


Losing Sleep

by phazonprincess



Series: Glimmer/Catra Ending AU — Losing Sleep Saga [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Affection, Altered canon, Emotions, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Sensual Play, Slow Burn, Tenderness, Touching, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:21:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24784540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phazonprincess/pseuds/phazonprincess
Summary: In a semi-altered canon, Glimmer and Catra are forced to share the cell as prisoners on Horde Prime, bitter at first but slowly begin to open up to each other. Now in the present where the war is won, life on Etheria is adapting to its new beginning and the two girls have unresolved romantic feelings that have left them both restless for weeks.Slow burn, emotional tension and succumbing to irresistable feelings. What could be better? That, but with Glimmer and Catra as its stars.Sensual, sweet, emotional as hell and overall good vibes fic!
Relationships: Adora & Bow (She-Ra), Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow & Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: Glimmer/Catra Ending AU — Losing Sleep Saga [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807708
Comments: 100
Kudos: 163





	1. Closure

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I haven't written a fic in -years-! But since She-Ra has had such an impact and I love these girls so much, I just felt compelled to hehe!
> 
> EDIT: Thank you for all the love!! ;-; I have decided to write more than just leave this as a one-shot, so enjoy!
> 
> https://glimmerposting.tumblr.com

The fated day Etheria stood its ground against Horde Prime felt like an eternity, but the days to follow felt as if they passed in minutes. _Especially_ for Glimmer, now the reigning queen of Bright Moon with a seemingly endless flood of ruling tasks. It was taxing unlike any other battle she's fought. There was no teleporting out of it, nor tearing ass with her friends on the battlefield to decide the victor. Instead, it was just too much paperwork and hearings that her mother never had the time to share the responsibilities of with her, effectively having to learn it all herself.

What felt like mere days was already weeks in Glimmer's new reality, barely having any time to herself and worse, not getting a lick of sleep. She couldn't iron out why she was so restless, given that everything was perhaps the best it has ever been for the citizens of Etheria. Day in and day out, Bright Moon would be molded into a better place under her leadership—or so _she_ thought, of course—and yet something just felt... off. She pondered it on her walk back through the royal halls, somewhat uncharacteristically dragging her heels as she walked. Glimmer found herself teleporting a lot less, having made the connection that teleporting didn't give her _any_ time to think between tasks, and walking at least gave her _something_. 

_Ugh. Why did I have to be a responsible queen this week?!_ she somewhat furiously overthought to herself. She took a page out of Catra's book and began to delegate tasks to folks who could work or wanted to help tidy up the aftermath of the war. There were still plenty of drones, machines, and debris left all over Etheria from Horde Prime's invasion and the majority of the princesses were separately doing their part in restoring the plane. It was fine, truly! She wouldn't have it any other way, and if it meant her being busy, then... so be it!

But that doesn't mean it couldn't be _hard_ , either.

Glimmer was without her friends' undying love and support, and while she felt responsible enough to bear the weight of leadership, she couldn't help but yearn to join her friends in their new endeavors and experiences. Adora had taken the initiative to take Entrapta and Bow with her back to space to begin the restoration of magic to the universe. Her father Micah had resigned himself to helping restore villages outside of Bright Moon with her aunt. The only one who stayed in Bright Moon was Catra, who Glimmer has had... tension with since they returned to Etheria that has since gone unresolved.

—

The two of them spent a _long_ time together in isolation on Horde Prime's flagship. Initially, Catra had superiority and maintained her status, but after spilling too much too soon was imprisoned as well, and in the same _cell_ no less. Something about wanting to observe any other potential discussion that may further Prime's tight grip on Etheria, Horde Prime had uttered before imprisoning her with the princess. Then, she and Glimmer had _no_ choice but to spend time together, no matter how much they resented each other and their ideals.

It began with drowning silence with the odd snappy banter injected in, lasting for days or maybe even longer as the two sat on opposite ends of the room. They had no concept of time up there, other than that it was devastatingly long. In a few weeks' time, the two had begun to coexist rather reluctantly, bouncing off memories of Etheria to keep themselves sane. Adora came up in conversation a _lot_ between the two of them as a common interest, both having had pretty intense feelings for her in at least some fashion. Eventually, there were some laughs—albeit reluctant at first from both parties—and smiles that created a small feeling of hope for both of them in their hearts.

The bed that they slept on was vast and had room for the two of them thrice over. Glimmer slept in the top corner whilst Catra laid at the opposite corner on the edge. The arrangement was... fine, for the most part. They got used to it pretty quick, nights going by like this for seemingly weeks. One night, however, they found themselves talking _quite_ late into the night (if they could even _call_ it that given that they were in space) fantasizing about what they would do back home, both next to each other on separate pillows. Glimmer didn't hide her wishes, eventually lamenting about how touch-starved she felt being away from her friends for so long, so accustomed to physical affection from both Bow and Adora.

"More than anything, I want to feel that first hug back from Bow and Adora, or... any of my friends for that matter!"

Catra snickered. "Yeah? That does sound... nice, I guess," she hesitatedly spit out.

"Hee hee! What, no hugs in the horde?" Glimmer giggled looking over to Catra, the laugh swiftly subsiding to observe the stern emotion on her face.

The feline glanced over at Glimmer's gaze just for a second before quickly turning away again. "W-what? No! None of that, it's... it's all gross, no way," she sputtered, fixating on the times her and Adora used to snuggle when they were younger, a face of rebuttal gradually slinking into one of sorrow.

Glimmer gave herself a few seconds to think, for the first time feeling... _bad_ for Catra. She was missing out on something so pivotal to Glimmer and her own life experience and couldn't help the way she felt for her. After a pause, she reached her hand out to Catra's shoulder, stopping halfway at first uncertain if it was a a good idea.

"Catra..." she started, eliciting the lightest chuckle of encouragement as her fingertips touched down upon Catra's fur, the feline reactively jolting in her spot, but... didn't do anything about it afterwards. "Do you want...?" she continued, but retracted her hand before finishing her sentence. "Sorry, I shouldn't have tou-" Catra cut her off.

"Yes," she dismissively said, giving Glimmer the slightest scowl before facing away again. Catra began to twist her body to face away, her tail somewhat erratically swiveling between them as if she were embarrassed. "I do," she quietly continued, silently wishing Glimmer would have asked her that.

Glimmer was confused at first, but it clicked soon enough that she _was_ welcoming a touch of some kind. The Etherian princess slunk her body down to meet Catra's, then slowly moved closer toward her. Glimmer had laid her head down on Catra's pillow and began to reach her arm over her, resting her hand on Catra's waist and eventually moving it down against her tummy.

They laid there, silent as the night, listening in on each other's breaths, comfortable and unmoved. For Glimmer, this was a welcomed feeling of compassion and softness from Catra, a side she _never_ thought she'd see. Catra on the other hand, was flustered out of her mind battling emotions of disgust and euphoria from this feeling she'd yearned for from Adora for so _so_ long, but had to get from _Sparkles_ of all people.

"H-hey," Catra spoke up after some time, her breaths sounding panicked.

"Hey..." Glimmer replied softly, twirling her hand very gently above Catra's stomach, something she'd been doing intermittently already. 

"This is... I-- thanks, Sparkles," Catra spit out, almost relieved.

The princess simply sighed, letting out a soft, endearing giggle. "Anytime, horde scum," she spoke, only to receive a bothered grunt from Catra in response.

The nights that followed had the two of them sleeping in closer and closer proximity each time they slept. It remained light in nature at first, but Catra found Glimmer pressing more of herself against her each passing night, feeling her embrace tighten comfortably each time. The cinders of this newfound and unlikely bond continued to be stoked, and Catra eventually became interested in being the big spoon from time to time. Before they knew it, they were spending every night and morning snuggling and nuzzling each other for comfort until they were able to escape.

—

That experience continued to play in Glimmer's head whenever she had any downtime nowadays, reminiscing how nice and... surprisingly genuine their bond had become while they were up there, to the point of Catra risking her _life_ to save her? _That_ was the part that she got so hung up on. When Horde Prime shared word of Adora's intent to save her, Glimmer saw the sparks fly wild in Catra's eyes to do the right thing, a sight she'll never _ever_ forget. She couldn't quite decipher her intentions no matter how much she thought of it. Was she doing it for Adora, or... was she doing it for _her?_

Ever since they returned to Etheria, in between the time they were fighting back against Horde Prime and now, they've never been able to process those feelings and have since had some... awkward interactions, especially in front of the others. It was a bond that only they knew between each other, and perhaps felt embarrassed to share with the others whose perception of them was _'they don't get along.'_

Glimmer wanted answers and to identify these... feelings she had somewhat regrettably developed for Catra, whether or not they were a biproduct of their isolation or if she truly was infatuated by her. It didn't help that her physique was like _that_ after all. Anybody would fall in love with that alone! The more the thought of it invaded her mind, she slowed her walk as she neared her quarters. The queen let out a long sigh with her chin held up finally deciding to act on her thoughts. _Fwsh!_

Upon a quick teleport, she found herself outside Catra's room, its door very slightly ajar with a sliver of dim light poking through. It wasn't incredibly late or anything, so Glimmer wasn't sure why she was surprised to see Catra awake. She took a deep breath, and then prodded the door open a little further to peek inside.

"Catra...?" she suspiciously said, somehow unsure if she was here or not.

"Oh--hey, sparkles!" Catra responded, rather excitedly? The feline was at a desk that was _covered_ in clothes, bits of metal, and other various tools. Glimmer couldn't make out what she was doing once she laid eyes on it, but she seemed preoccupied.

"S-sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt you," Glimmer apologized, beginning to close the door again.

"No, no! It's okay, I was just beginning to get angry at this piece of junk, so... I'm done," Catra blurted out, encouraging Glimmer to stay.

Glimmer giggled with relief. "Alright then!" and opened the door, letting herself in. Catra spun on her stool with a grin on her face, hopping up to greet Glimmer, walking over to chat as Glimmer remained next to the door as it shut.

"How's the _'Queen of Bright Moon'_ doing today?" Catra asked with a smirk, complete with air quotes around her title, to which Glimmer rolled her eyes and frowned at the gesture.

"She's... _ughhh!_ Exhausted!" she began, her hands involuntarily reaching for her temples. "It's just the same thing every day! Get up, listen to people talk and tell other people what to do. Sign a paper! Approve a thing! Do this—then that! And just..! _Rrrgh!_ " she finished after raising her voice a little, not realizing the grip she had on her hair. She let go, releasing a sigh as she centered herself. "Sorry, I'm just... stressed."

"Hey... don't worry about it. You're... doing your best, right?" Catra said, about as endearing as she could possibly get on a day-to-day basis. 

Glimmer smiled with a slow nod. "Yeah... I am. I'm just so... tired! All the time! I can barely get any sleep," she sighed, walking over towards Catra's bed—which was of course unmade with its blankets everywhere—and took a seat, sighing with relief once more now that she was finally on her ass after such a grueling day.

"I hear ya', princess," Catra chuckled, knowing it would bother Glimmer to be called that. "I have... also been a little restless."

"Yeah?" Glimmer's interest was piqued and she looked up toward Catra.

"U-uh, yeah!" Catra stammered, "I don't know! I guess I just don't have anything to do except... wait for people to stop being busy?" she shrugged.

"Hee hee, you knooow... you _could_ have joined Adora and Bow like we initially planned," Glimmer mentioned, grinning.

"Sure, but... it wouldn't feel right all going together without you," Catra pleasantly remarked, quickly realizing her random spark of sincerity. "N-not that you aren't.... _perfectly_ capable of staying. By yourself. Alone! But...!" she continued, to which Glimmer couldn't help but giggle.

"Catra, I miss you," she spoke plainly, her grin only widening from Catra's awkward but endearing demeanor. 

The feline couldn't help but elicit a light chuckle in response. "Heh... same here, Sparkles," she said, hopping up onto the bed and sitting cross legged next to Glimmer in a rather swift fashion.

Glimmer's heart skipped a beat, her friend suddenly rather close and her mind still flooded with indefinite thoughts about their relationship with each other. "Y-you do?" she asked, perhaps stupidly.

"Umm... yeah? Why else would I say it?" Catra so matter-of-factly rebutted. 

"I-I guess, um..." Glimmer paused, looking away, "I just... for some reason maybe thought that you were-- like, that you didn't-- hmm," she concluded, stuck in her thoughts.

Catra was a little confused and... oddly concerned, beginning to worry if she did or said something wrong, immediately jumping to conclusions to respond with. "Didn't what? Want to see you? What?" she impatiently chimed, looking toward the princess whose gaze was still fixated elsewhere.

"On the ship... I was just thinking about our time there together," Glimmer finally let out, turning back to Catra with a twinkle of emotion in her eye. "I just... I _really_ enjoyed that time and never got to tell you that." she finished, looking away again. There was a sudden onslaught of tears that began to well up in her eyes, but she didn't want to cry. "And now I feel like... you're embarrassed about it?"

Emotions stirred within Catra as she reflected back on the time she spoke of. The feline had also been fixated on that time recently, which was probably why she was so happy to finally see Glimmer who has been too busy for her to see. 

"Glimmer..." she started, using her real name this time. "No. I-I don't... know if I'd be the same Catra if we didn't... get that time together," she concluded, her breathing beginning to feel heavier.

Silence fell for a short minute, but just as Glimmer opened her mouth to speak, Catra interjected. "I-I thought _you_... were ignoring _me_ because you didn't--!" she blurted out, swallowing her spit and continuing to look at Glimmer's face as she trailed off. Catra's hand involuntarily found its way to Glimmer's shoulder as she could feel her own emotions rush to her face.

Her touch warmed Glimmer's core, a cheeky grin returning quickly upon hearing what Catra said to her. After a few seconds, she finally turned to face her with a cheerful smile and light laughter, wiping her eyes of any potential tears.

"I could never!" she proudly returned, adjusting herself to have one leg up on the bed and one off, the two of them now directly facing each other. "I... want to spend time together, again... like we used to!" she added.

The hand on Glimmer's shoulder pulled the princess closer to Catra, her other arm joining in to hug her as she reciprocated her touch with an embrace of her own. "I... me, too," Catra muffledly said against Glimmer's neck. The girls sat there blissfully in each other's arms for several minutes just rocking forward and back intermittently, Glimmer's hands gently rubbing Catra's back and shoulders to bring out the purrs that she had been missing so much of.

Finally, Catra pulled away with a wide smile and struggled to say what she wanted to ask Glimmer, "I-if you want to like... you know. _Sleep_ here, tonight, um... Y-you can," she stammered, looking away with the slightest blush on her face. 

Glimmer giggled and cupped Catra's sweet cheek in her palm as Catra's eyes met with hers. "I'd love to, Catra," she happily exclaimed before quickly continuing, "I think... I know why I haven't been able to sleep now, and it's that I can't without... _you_."


	2. A Good Night's Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having opened up to each other somewhat, there's a -new- tension between them, but one that feels much sweeter and exciting. Despite the good feelings, however, Catra can't help but continue to feel guilty no matter how much love she is shown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're buckled up for this!
> 
> Thank you for all the positive and heart-warming feedback! This continuation is for YOU and I'm committed to the chapters to come!
> 
> https://glimmerposting.tumblr.com/

After weeks of uncertainty, Glimmer finally found the closure she needed from the woman she admired, both seeming to have made the same mistake of avoiding confrontation. Minutes turned into hours as Catra simply sat in Glimmer's lap, eventually twisting to lay against her in her arms as she herself rested against the bed's headrest. Little words were spoken, both girls just happy to revel in the comfort they were hungry for. There was so much to discuss now that some of their feelings were out in the open for each other to digest, but Glimmer could feel her consciousness slipping no matter how interested she was in chatting to find more answers. They didn't quite iron out _what_ their relationship was, which is what Glimmer was questioning the most.

It would have to wait as her thoughts began to mesh with one-another, not being able to hold one for any longer than few seconds as her eyelids grew heavy. After about a minute, her eyes shot open again with the discomfort of the headrest hard against her neck. She lifted her head and blinked a few times, then looked down to find Catra out like a light on her chest, one arm around Glimmer and her other resting on her stomach. Part of her didn't want to move so that she didn't have to wake her, but the uncomfortable position became too much to bear.

"Sorry, love," she muttered under her breath as she began to shift her body down, trying to lift Catra at the same time so that she could get underneath. To no surprise, Catra jolted awake, her claws impulsively coming out and grazing Glimmer's shirt, making _her_ jolt with a grunt to boot.

Catra said nothing, but looked to Glimmer's face to ensure she wasn't in pain, to which she was met with a smile so radiant that she couldn't help but smile back. That look in Glimmer's eyes was just... so healing to Catra. She never thought that she'd be treated this way again. Not by anyone, but _especially_ not Glimmer. She couldn't resist staring until Glimmer finally let out a giggle and broke the gaze.

"I gotta get comfy!" she said, shifting her back forward again and beginning to take any accessories off her head. Her crown, earrings, and a pin she used to keep her hair out of her face all found themselves loosely piled beside them at the edge of the bed. She did not bother to take her cape off however, it being too much of a hassle combined with how tired she was.

"R-right!" Catra exclaimed, lifting herself up with both claws to let Glimmer lay down before finally letting herself down against her once more, but this time beside her with one arm on her belly and a knee overtop of hers. Glimmer's arm pulled Catra close to get comfy, unintentional purrs being let out once again as the girls finally found themselves dozing off for good.

—

Thin beams of light pierced the room, shifting slowly until they finally met one of Catra's eyes, forcing her to awaken quite reluctantly as she held a hand in front of her face. _Eugh_ she groaned, rubbing her eyes and stretching her arms as the fur on her body stood for but a few seconds. Following an itch under her neck, she turned to both sides of the bed she slept in to find that it was just her. _Glimmer?_ she thought, feeling an impulse of sadness and frustration for a few moments before finding a neatly folded piece of paper against the adjacent pillow with 'Horde Scum' written on it in... well, honestly quite sloppy cursive writing, with a purple heart below it to boot.

_Classic Sparkles._

There was no seal on it or anything, it was just shoddily folded unevenly. _It's amazing that that girl can do **anything** queenly_ Catra chuckled to herself. In it, it wrote:

_Catra,_

_Sorry I didn't wake you up! You were just so... cute and I couldn't do it!_

_I had to start my day pretty early but maybe you'd like to come sleep in my room tonight? If you want! I left it unlocked for you._

_Your QUEEN, Glimmer_

_(NOT princess! I heard that!)_

"Hah!" Catra exclaimed, a wide grin on her face as she closed the letter, thinking that she didn't register that jab last night when they were talking. Any immediate worry quickly dissipated as she already began to look forward to the night ahead. She got up from her bed and began pacing around somewhat, thinking about what she could do to pass the time. During some of their chatting last night, Glimmer mentioned that she had given the others tasks to fulfill in regard to restoring Etheria. She was technically given the job of aiding Adora and the others, but stayed back at the last minute because she didn't want Glimmer to feel alone. 

Was that... truly why she stayed behind, though? Or was it for more selfish reasons? Going with Adora, Bow, and Entrapta would have given her a good opportunity to keep herself busy while simultaneously making amends to her new friends and bridging some of the gaps between her and Adora that have yet to be rebuilt. A feeling of guilt began to set in as she began to reminisce the times she spent fighting against them with such... conviction and rage. Part of what kept her up so late at night was the fact that—despite the turn of events that led her to be on their side—she still hurt them all in the past. _Badly_. While she made apologies and has been forgiven time and time by Adora, Bow, even Glimmer, something still pulled her down as if she'd never be able to make it up to them fully.

Last night was truly a treat and Catra was able to let go of all of her feelings in the moments she had with Glimmer, something she couldn't just _do_. That couldn't just be friendship, she thought. Were they more than just friends? She had felt the same way before about Adora but those feelings have subsided ever since she grew closer to Glimmer when they were in captivity. _Ugh! Emotions._

With quite the array of feelings on her mind, Catra figured that doing something good with her day might help remedy some of the ambiguity of how she felt. Perhaps there was something she could do out and about to show some of the other Bright Moon residents that she was there to help. Before she departed, she adorned herself with some more casual attire compared to her usual fit, even taking inspiration from Glimmer as she put her hair—which had grown a little longer since being chipped—up in a small ponytail. Without a specific goal in mind, she made her way through the halls and unto the courtyard.

There was surprisingly little foot traffic in the palace itself, the tapping of her shoes echoed through the halls and was beginning to annoy her. _Stupid-- how do people even WEAR these every day?!_ she thought, regretting the decision to wear them as a courtesy. She peeked into the odd room as she walked through, most of them empty or only stationed with a couple guards. An armory, a gallery, the spare room, each were empty except the kitchen, where two of the palace's cooks were working on lunch. She stood in the doorway for a minute to see if she could tell what they were making, but eventually they noticed and scowled at her. Naturally, Catra's face turned to a defensive frown and quickly into one of sadness as she sighed, making her exit to continue down the halls. 

It wasn't unexpected for folks to still be upset that she was there, she thought. She was still the same Catra that... did all of that horrible stuff to Bright Moon and its people, after all. There was a reason she was keeping herself in her room! Thoughts quickly felt like they were spiraling into one another as her steps quickened, unsure of where she w--

_Bump!_

"Ah! Forgive your Queen, for she didn't mea-- _Catra!"_ Glimmer exclaimed, sounding horridly worried at first, but was quickly relieved.

"H-hey, Sparkles--! Y-you should really uh, watch where you're going," she smirked, readjusting the collar on her shirt.

"Hmhmhm! I suppose I shouldn't always just be looking at my feet," the Queen giggled, adjusting her headpiece to be centered again. She looked at Catra who just sort of... stood in front of her, staring down at her almost menacingly. Though the expression didn't last long as Catra soon realized Glimmer was staring, promptly sinking into a blush and looking away.

"I was ju-" they both began, cutting each other off. "Oh-" Glimmer started, "Go ahe-" 

"Y-you first!" Catra exclaimed over Glimmer's voice as they kept trying to read the other person... somewhat awkwardly.

After a laugh, Glimmer centered herself. "I was just on my way to yet _another_ meeting," she concluded, crossing her arms and frowning a little bit before quickly following up. "What about you, Kitten?"

_Kitten. That's the second time..._

"U-um... I don't-- I was thinking of going to the, uh, courtyard?" Catra began, pausing as she did not _really_ have a plan for where she was going. And neither did this sentence, it seemed.

"... Uh-huh?" Glimmer questioned, raising a brow as she looked up to Catra.

"T-to uhhh... help people?" she finished, feeling like she was completely blundering this conversation as she couldn't help but admire the supple cheeks on Glimmer's face as she smiled at her.

Glimmer simply giggled and took a step closer and put a hand on Catra's shoulder, sending a shiver of excitement down Catra's back before Glimmer began to twist her gently, pointing with her other hand. "You mean the one that's... that way?" she asked, unable to control her light laughter.

"Wh-what?! I know my way around! I-I was just... taking the long route. Yeah!" Catra stammered, brushing Glimmer's hand off of her and crossing her arms as she turned away.

"Hee hee, if you say so... I can get you there faster though!" Glimmer excitedly said, reaching out for both of Catra's shoulders from behind.

"No, no, wait! No tele--!" _Fwsh!_

And just like that, they were in the lush greenery of the courtyard. Catra sighed, holding onto her dizzy head before finishing, _"...porting."_

Glimmer thought that maaaybe she shouldn't have done that without asking. She reached her hand out to rub Catra's back for a second, regret in her voice. "Sorry, Catra. I forgot you don't like it."

"I-it's fine," she halted her with a stern response, but swiftly turning toward her with a teensy grin of affirmation. Glimmer smiled back as she pulled her hand back, and then there was another uncomfortably long pause.

"I... _do_ really need to go to that meeting," Glimmer said, itching the back of her head and using her hands to comb her hair into a nice shape again.

"Heh, don't let someone like _me_ distract you," Catra said, looking away with a smirk as she began to observe the skyline that laid its horizon against the banisters surrounding the courtyard. 

Glimmer chuckled, then with a spark of confidence came up close to Catra and softly spoke towards her ear. "There's very few things I'd rather be distracted by," she said somewhat indulgently before giving her a gentle peck on the cheek and promptly teleporting off.

Flustered as she could possibly be, Catra stood there somewhat embarrassed as she rubbed her cheek with her claws, her tail spinning circles around itself as she lost her grip on reality for a second before realizing that two of the guards were staring at her from the courtyard entrance.

"Y-you didn't--! _Ugh!"_ she cried out, her claws gripping the hair on her head as her thoughts squirmed around like a fish out of water. It took her some time to recalibrate from... _whatever_ just happened. What was the kiss for? Why did she talk like _that?_ Plenty of new questions that left her twiddling her thumbs as she paced around the courtyard, barely taking in her surroundings until she finally stopped to admire the statue of... Angella.

Her spiral of feelings were left at the door as her mind was suddenly a slate full of her regrets all over again. She couldn't help but stare at the careful carvings of Angella's face, letting out a deep sigh. She was gone... because of _her_. Glimmer would still have her mother if it wasn't for Catra's rash and selfish decision-making. And for... what?! She gained _nothing_ , and surely the others still resent her for it. 

_Deep breaths, like Adora told you._

_..._

_..._

_Sigh._

—

"Okay... very well. The court of Bright Moon will see your request fulfilled," Glimmer commanded with a dutiful nod to her subject. The commoner held their hands together and forward to their queen, then began to turn and make their way out of the throne room. Then, after a gap of no new visitors, Glimmer broke character to her Hand. 

" _Uuugh._ Any more? It's so _late_ ," she impatiently asked, flinging her head back against the cushion of her seat.

"None, your majesty. It is fit to conclude this evening's hearing," she shared, turning to Glimmer. "I shall see today's decisions passed on to our courthouse."

"Wonderful! Now if you'll _excuse_ me!" she announced, not hesitating to teleport out onto the main platform of her throne room to do a couple quick stretches, then teleporting once again to the hall leading up to her quarters. She was not usually so impatient to get back, but she just... didn't want to keep Catra waiting if she had been there.

She fixed her hair and adjusted her cape to look straight, then planted her hand on the door handle and... didn't open it. _Why am I... nervous?!_ _It's just Catra!_ she thought, quickly swatting those thoughts and swallowing any nerves and promptly opening the door. 

"Ahhh, _finally_ I'm..." she trailed off, looking around to see her empty room, "...done." _Where was she? Fwsh!_

Quick to check Catra's room, she peeked inside only to greet her eyes with a dark room. Glimmer lit the darkness with a gentle aura of light in the palm of her hand, but... not here either it seemed. _Catra, where could you even BE at this hour?_ she pondered. _Fwsh!_

There was no harm in checking the courtyard, she thought, only to realize that it was _also_ void of anyone. She walked around to check down some of the garden paths, and inside the green house as well, but to no avail. She circled around back to think, and stopped at the statue of her mother. Glimmer smiled, thinking of her, but soon it clicked, having left Catra right here earlier where she now stood.

_Oh, Catra..._


	3. Empathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra is nowhere to be found, stirring worry in Glimmer, lost in her thoughts about Angella and succumbing to a guilt she hasn't been able to properly combat ever since she returned to Etheria.

_Where could she have gone?!_

Glimmer was getting desperate trying to locate Catra, beginning to ask friends, guards and commoners alike if they'd seen her, but to absolutely no avail. After she'd so eagerly invited her to her room for the night, she was beginning to jump through emotional hoops of confusion. She was _certain_ that she was reminded of the portal incident, but what if it wasn't that? What if it was her being too busy again or... maybe she was too forward earlier? In any case, she was getting antsy and frankly a little worried. It had been about an hour of her looking already, and the sun had set.

She was running out of places to look, places she suspected Catra might hide out of the places she's comfortable with going to by herself. Maybe the village? She did mention that she wanted to help people today. _Fwsh!_

The streets of the cliffside town were rather quiet and uneventful with just going about their nightly business as normal. The residents that saw her bowed before their queen, and while she appreciated the formality, she was done being queen for the day and jumped right into asking around.

"Yes, hello—hey, have you seen Catra anywhere nearby? I can't seem to find her and I'm beginning to worry," she asked with trepidation.

The man she spoke to seemed rather bothered at the mention of Catra's name, with a very physical facial reaction, to which he sputtered out in response "I-I haven't. I-is everything alright? What's she doing?!"

Glimmer sighed heavily and put on her queenly smile before continuing further. "Everything is just fine, she was helping some of our neighbours today, and I'm just coming to get her."

"I see. I am sorry Your Highness, I do not have any news of value..." he muttered, a breath of relief eliciting his lips.

"Thank you for your time—enjoy your evening, sir!" Glimmer gestured with a small curtsy before turning and teleporting once again. _Fwsh!_

The Whispering Woods might be a good place to check, since it's nearby. She appeared just before its entrance and began to look around, beginning to walk in before she looked toward Bright Moon and paused, squinting a bit toward her runestone where she could make out... somebody sitting with their legs dangling from the edge. _There you are. Fwsh!_

She didn't want to scare her, so she teleported to the bridge and then began walking to the podium that her source of power was kept afloat. It turned into more of a jog as she impatiently wanted to get to Catra, a lot more concerned than she thought she was about seeing her safe.

Catra heard Glimmer's heels click against the glass floor of the tower and turned her head to see her, gently lifting her cheek to gesture a smile, but slowly turned back to looking over toward the forests below.

"Catra! I've been looking everywhere—why are you--! What made you want to come _here_ of all places?" Glimmer let out exasperated, somewhat short of breath. Catra remained silent. "I-I was worried about you! I thought you might have--"

"Run away?" Catra chuckled, lifting her legs up from over the edge and standing herself up, turning to face Glimmer. "Nah, nowhere to go."

Somewhat involuntarily, Glimmer hastily stepped towards Catra and swiftly pulled her in for a hug of reassurance, to which Catra reciprocated by putting her arms around Glimmer. She was almost a full head taller than her, cradling her underneath her chin for a few moments before Catra pulled away, their hands meeting each other's forearms as Glimmer looked up to meet Catra's gaze with worried eyes.

The queen breathed in deeply, and exhaled, unsure of what to say, until Catra spoke. "I just... I have a hard time shaking some of the... things. That I did..." she trailed off, looking toward the palace with regret written all over her face. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, unknowingly letting her claws graze against Glimmer's skin as she felt a rush of remorse.

Glimmer didn't want to rush her, seeing the look of compassion and want to share in her eyes. She didn't mind Catra's claws, in fact Glimmer went ahead and took hold of Catra's hands with her own as if to encourage her to continue.

"No matter how much I wish I could... just-- just go back, and... maybe do the right thing," Catra began, sniffling as her eyes began to water somewhat, "then... maybe your Mo--. Maybe... Angella would still be here," she managed to get out, before shifting more into a cry that she kept trying to choke back. 

Glimmer felt the weight of what Catra was trying to say and couldn't help but think about it in the big picture. Catra _was_ the reason her mother was gone, there was no disputing that. She missed her mother so dearly, thinking of her any time she passed by the courtyard and wishing that she just... could have at least said goodbye to her. When Adora broke the news to Glimmer about her mother's sacrifice, there weren't words to describe just how shattered her world suddenly felt despite such a thriving victory that day. No victory was worth the cost of her life, and after it happened she grew so... destructively angry at the Horde—no, at Catra. 

The weeks that followed Glimmer's coronation felt like a personally tailored hell built specifically for her, as if it were punishment for not being a good enough daughter in the time that she _did_ have with her. Countless nights were spent in tears thinking of all the things she wished she could say, but now never can. The same nights were filled with frustration and physical turmoil that she just couldn't release and it was _that_ anxious desperation that lead her to make the decision to try and harness the power of Etheria, beginning to silently recall her own regrets.

Glimmer found her own eyes welling up with tears and her grip on Catra's hands tightening without thinking of it. She was lost in her own thoughts and memories of her mother, reflecting on her disposition towards Catra... no, her _hatred_ for Catra at the time. 

"I-I'm _sorry,_ Glimmer! F-for _everything!_ " Catra started now fully unable to speak cohesively, only able to sputter out words between bated breaths with her voice cracking every few syllables.

The queen stood there, unmoved and their clutches on each other unbroken, resisting the urge to cry any further as she tried to pull herself back to reality with some deep breathing.

_In_

_..._

_and out._

Finally, Glimmer loosened her unintentional tight grip, then wiped the tears from her face before looking towards Catra whose face was just... a mess. She raised her hand towards Catra's chin and lifted it from her gaze towards their feet, letting her fingertips wander the damp cheek slowly as their eyes found each other's once again. Admiring Catra's beautiful face, Glimmer allowed herself to keep looking at her as the seconds ticked away, each seeming like minutes. Her other hand followed to meet Catra's other cheek as one of Catra's claws wrapped its fingers around Glimmer's arm.

"Catra..." Glimmer started, taking one more deep breath before divulging her thoughts. "I _loved_ my mother. And her, me. I think of her every day, wishing she could see what I've accomplished, and what _beautiful_ era Etheria is embarking on," she finished, taking a pause and another deep breath, but still maintaining her gaze on Catra who had begun winding down as well.

"It's true... I am not sure if I _can_ ever truly forgive you, for what you've done," she remarked, a certain sincerity in her voice that spoke so much louder than usual. Catra nodded, her eyes shutting with embarrassment and guilt before returning her look to Glimmer.

"But... I haven't forgiven myself for the choices _I've_ made just yet, either. I put _everyone_ in danger, Catra, and you were there to watch it unfold. Myself, Bow, Adora and even _you_... with my naivety and desperation," Glimmer said solemnly, her hands slowly shifting from Catra's cheeks to her shoulders and then down to pull Catra into a gentle embrace. Catra succumbed to the invitation, clutching Glimmer tight before she continued her sentiment. "And... in _experiencing_ that, I began to understand... just what _you_ were feeling in your hour of need. Or... at least empathize. I was in so much pain, and I was so... frustrated! I just wanted to win _so_ badly, that... I almost ruined _everything_ for all the people I loved. How can I forgive myself for that?!" she piped up at the end, gripping Catra a little tighter.

Catra—the powerhouse that she was—pulled Glimmer up onto her tippy toes and held her close, feeling her breathing and heart rate against her as she was truly trying to keep herself from letting any more tears out, doing her best to listen fully to Glimmer and comfort her as she explained their parallel. 

"It's... it's at _that_ point that I knew that I could forgive you. And I... I _really_ want to, Catra. You've shown me so much good and most of all, you've shown me your heart. Not just to me, but to Adora, and to Bow, and others too. I can tell you _want_ to make amends, and..." she sniffled, planting herself back down on the ground and pulling away to look at Catra one more time, "that's enough for me, Kitten."

Catra smiled wide and looked away from Glimmer before responding quite a few seconds later. "I trust you, Glimmer," she said with an unwavering confidence, turning her gaze back towards her queen. "Th-thank you... I won't forget this moment."

Glimmer's heart felt so full at such a sincere remark from Catra, looking ever so tenderly at her face having gotten so close. For a moment, she raised her face even closer, yearning to feel Catra's lips on hers, but... she refrained. It wasn't the right time. Instead, she let out a bout of laughter as she pulled away, only their hands touching again. "No. Thank _you_ , Catra. I'm glad we could finally talk about this," she said, turning her gaze to the palace, now draped in moonlight.

"D-do you still want my um... company tonight, Sparkles?" Catra said, slipping right back into that awkward-yet-endearing Catra demeanor that Glimmer was so smitten by.

"I'd love nothing more," she said softly, before lifting her fingers up to Catra's shoulders one more time. _Fwsh!_

—

As is customary, there was a certain unease Catra felt upon arriving to their new destination, a little woozy as her eyes shut tightly to wind down from the dizziness. _Teleporting_.

"Ah--! Sorry, Catra. I promise I'll remember next time!" Glimmer exclaimed, helping Catra maintain her balance. The two of them were alone in Glimmer's chambers. As queen, she got a _substantial_ upgrade to her space. Overlooking Etheria from the cliffside, her space was nothing short of a beautiful sight, plastered with windows to let in both the sun and moon's light.

Despite how much open space the floors had, it was rather lightly furnished with nothing a dresser and vanity on the palace-side walls and a large, veiled bedframe in its center. There were other adornments of regality lining the walls and it was clear that Glimmer hadn't fully made the space _hers_ just yet, with little that spoke to her personality except a space for notes she'd kept from her friends pinned to a wall.

This was the first time Catra'd ever seen her quarters, and she couldn't help but feel a little impressed despite the lack of surprise. "Huh... guess I should have suspected as much, _Queeeen_ Glimmer," she said with a chuckle at the end as she traipsed around to the window, able to see all of Bright Moon.

"It's... definitely a big change from my old room!" Glimmer remarked somewhat bashfully. 

"It fits! Just give it some time," Catra responded, turning to Glimmer with a grin before letting out a yawn as all of her fur stood up for a brief moment.

Glimmer could _not_ help but find that absolutely adorable every time. "Aww, is the little kitty cat tiiired?" she teased, going ahead and starting to take off her earrings and headpiece beginning to 'de-queen' herself. 

"H-hey! I can yawn! Gosh, I swear you and Bow have NEVER seen a cat before in your lives," she snarled, her tail involuntarily thwapping against her own legs. 

"I can't help it!" Glimmer added, hanging up her cape and beginning to slip out of her leotard, actually in a position to get into comfortable sleeping attire as opposed to last night.

"Yes, you can!" she rebutted, rearing her head at just the wrong (or right) time. "Oh--! Shit, sorry!" she exclaimed, quickly turning away with a furious blush after seeing Glimmer's bare back while she dug through her drawers to switch into a comfortable shirt.

"Psh, it's fine! We're both ladies here. Do you want pajamas?" she stated with confidence, turning over to look at Catra with her question once she slunk into a long sleeved purple shirt with the Bright Moon sigil on its back. 

Catra turned back to see Glimmer fully matched with loosely-fitted clothes and no jewelery. It was... honestly kind of weird, since she's only _ever_ seen Glimmer with all of her accessories on. "Um, if you have some? I usually just sleep in whatever I'm wearing at the time."

Glimmer rolled her eyes and scoffed, _"Why_ am I surprised by that?! At all!" she remarked, opening another drawer with more clothing trying to find a suitable size for Catra's slender figure. She reached for a matching set of yellow shorts and and tank top, clothes she had handy for whenever Adora would want to do a sleepover. She figured Catra might already get pretty warm at night, so lighter would be better.

"Here!" she said, walking over with the set of pajamas and holding them out for Catra.

"... And just... change? Right here?" she asked rather pointedly as if it was an outrageous idea for her to do that.

"Um... yes? Don't you want to sleep in clean clothes?"

"No, _you_ want me to sleep in clean clothes," Catra teased, and then gestured to her bed. "Go over there and don't peek," she said rather commandingly.

Glimmer couldn't help but giggle, but obliged and made her way to the round bed that lay there veiled by sheets that hung suspended from above. They were translucent enough to be difficult to see through, and so Glimmer thought it would be courteous to keep the veil closed once she was comfy on her bed.

Waiting just long enough to confidently change, Catra finally took off all of her clothes and left them in a pile before getting into the pajamas Glimmer had shared with her. 

The queen couldn't help but observe Catra's physique through the veil, and while she couldn't see any of the _obvious_ , she could admire her figure all the same. It wasn't the first time she's allowed her eyes to roam her feline friend, but this time felt a lot more... intimate, and it made Glimmer quiver a little as she laid there in wait.

The shorts were incredibly soft to Catra's surprise. In fact, they were so soft that she forgot all about needing to cut a hole in them for her tail, putting on the shirt as well before finally acknowledging the discomfort of her tail. "Sparkles, I'm modifying these for the obvious," she explained.

"H-huh?" Glimmer asked, quickly realizing what she meant. "Oh. Yeah, by all means!"

_Rrrip! That's better._

Catra finally made her way over to the bed, unsure of where the veil started or ended, struggling to get it to work in her favor before Glimmer crawled over and moved it aside for her. "Thanks, Sparkles," Catra admitted before crawling onto the bed herself.

Glimmer had gone ahead and gotten comfy against her luxurious and copious amounts of pillows, but made sure to leave enough room for Catra to join her as she laid on her side, back facing to Catra _hoping_ it would be obvious that she wanted to be the little spoon in this moment.

To her luck, those interests aligned with Catra's and as she found her own comfort, began to slide herself over to Glimmer and cup their bodies together, the final touch of letting her palm rest on Glimmer's hip.

Something about the placement of Catra's hand made Glimmer feel a sensation of want for just... _so_ much more, her mind fixated on that hand and its claws finding their grip _elsewhere_ on her. She couldn't help but back up a bit further against Catra as she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

Catra's heart rate spiked in response to Glimmer's sudden shift and in turn shifted her own body to be flush with Glimmer's, moving her hand from her hip towards her stomach. At first, her fingers slid underneath her shirt by accident, quickly pulling back to put them overtop instead, but Glimmer moved her own hand to Catra's, guiding it back underneath her shirt and onto her soft, bare belly. Catra's breathing got _much_ heavier and Glimmer couldn't resist eliciting the softest of coos.

No... Catra didn't know whether she wanted this or not. There was still so much on her mind and her heart wasn't in the right gear to make these kinds of intimate moves. She pulled her hand back and planted it overtop of her Glimmer's shirt again before whispering into her ear, "J-just this... for now." she sputtered through her erratic breathing. 

Glimmer sighed, releasing another contained breath, finding her center again before softly responding. "Yes... just this is... perfect." she quietly delivered, "Goodnight, Kitten."

"... Goodnight, my queen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all knew it was going this way! Hope you enjoyed some tender touching and feeling infused with a nice pour of emotions.
> 
> http://glimmerposting.tumblr.com


	4. Taking the Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra insists that Glimmer has been overworking herself and to consider taking a day off. Somewhat enthused by the idea, Glimmer decides to take Catra out for the day.

_Bang-bang-bang!_

_…?_

_Bang-bang-bang!_

Catra’s eyes felt glued shut as she began to pry them open to try and identify whatever noise was interrupting her rest. She quickly recalibrated and shot her head up to help her get some sparks flying in her brain, reassessing her surroundings. She was still in Glimmer’s bed, veiled by the thin lavender silk as the dampened sunlight grazed her fur. Her body shifted to sit up, and her knee bumped into Glimmer’s bottom. She was… still there, this time. Catra couldn’t resist smiling as she observed the sleeping queen’s back side. Only for so long, however.

 _Bang-bang-bang!_ Catra heard again coming from the tall doors. “Your Majesty! The royal court is meeting in twenty minutes,” a voice said from the hall. She could hear Glimmer groan as she began to pull her hands up to her face to rub her eyes.

“ _Rrrgh_. Already!?” she seemed to whisper to herself, reluctantly shifting into a stretch, pressing her back hard against the bed as her arms flew up past her head, with a satisfied grunt to boot.

Catra chuckled. “I thought you’d be _way_ more of a morning person, Sparkles,” she said, reaching her hand out to gently rub Glimmer’s stomach through the blanket.

“Oh, shut up—surely you’re no better!” she retorted, her brows furrowed as she looked toward Catra, following up her scowl with a smile and a chuckle of her own. Seconds later and Glimmer decided to sit up as well, letting out a sigh as she soaked in the atmosphere of the morning. “I slept like a rock, though,” she admitted, nodding gently as she looked at Catra.

“Hah, yeah… me, too,” Catra responded, reciprocating Glimmer’s gaze. “You’ve got work to do, _princess,”_ she teased, leaning forward with a devilish grin.

Glimmer frowned, but it was hard for her to maintain as Catra’s presence in the early hours just made her feel warm. “That's _Queen,_ horde scum!” she teased back, involuntarily stretching her arms up one more time, this time eliciting a gentle coo of released energy, something Catra _loved_ seeing. Before too long, the queen began getting out from beneath the covers and crawled out of the bed, somewhat groggily making her way to the vanity to pretty herself up for the day, instantly going for the brush to tackle whatever became of her hair overnight. 

Catra stayed put, admiring Glimmer’s lazy walk and soft sounds of annoyance regarding the day ahead of her. She really _was_ working herself like crazy, not giving herself a break ever since Adora and company left, and that was almost two weeks ago, now. It wasn’t adding up and Catra wanted to say something about it.

“When are you going to relax, Sparkles? It’s been nonstop—don’t you want to do something for yourself?” she queried, finally finding some energy to crawl out of the veiled bed—actually able to find the opening this time—and taking a few steps toward the window overlooking Bright Moon.

Glimmer took a few seconds to think about what Catra asked. It’s true, she hasn’t given herself any time to read, practice her sorcery or _anything_ recreational since their friends left. She’s continued to put her people first and tell herself that she’ll have time, but… _when would she?_ She finally began to question whether or not there was an answer. “I don’t… know yet. There’s so much that needs to be done and I need to be there for it!” she exclaimed, sounding somewhat hollow about it in her delivery, and Catra could hear the echoes from miles away.

“Your people aren’t just going to _vanish_ if you take a day off, Glimmer,” Catra confidently suggested, beginning to change out of the pajamas Glimmer lent her and into her own fit again. 

“That’s… true, but even if I--!” This time it was Glimmer to look over at the wrong time, quickly turning back to her vanity to look at her lashes again, flustered from seeing Catra’s nude backside. She just prayed that Catra didn’t notice her looking. “…if I uhh, take a day off, then that just means the day after will be even busier. Right?” she asked, sounding like she _wanted_ to be wrong.

Catra finished putting her buttoned shirt on and began to slip into her pants, turning her head over to see Glimmer’s face fully into the mirror as she continued to touch up her eye makeup. It was subtle, considering Catra could barely tell the difference. Finally, she responded. “I’m not sure. Whenever I would give my troops tasks to carry out, that means I… didn’t have to do them! It’s a great feeling.”

The queen let out a sigh, acknowledging that she could continue to delegate if she needed to. Given how much she was dreading the day ahead, she held her crown in her hands and thought hard for a few moments, humming and hawing quite audibly as Catra simply watched in adoration, something she certainly didn’t mind doing. _God she’s cute,_ Catra couldn’t help thinking, taking great interest in watching Glimmer’s face jump through the hoops of decision making. 

An intense sigh came out and Glimmer put the crown back down on its mantle. “Okay. I _do_ need to take a day off” she said with conviction. While her hair and face were minted and fresh for the day, she was… still in her jammies. She turned to Catra, somewhat at a loss for what to do next. “What should we do today?” she asked.

“W-we? I-I don’t know, you know I don’t know much about this place yet…” Catra trailed off, suddenly a little embarrassed thinking about spending the whole day with Glimmer, before quickly coming back with a snarky comment. “Whatever it is, you _probably_ don’t want to be wearing _that!”_ she concluded, gesturing to Glimmer’s attire with her eyes and a nod.

Now it was Glimmer who felt a little embarrassed, “W-well, duh! Ugh! We need to figure out something to _do_ so I can get properly dressed for it,” she said with a twinge of friendly annoyance in her voice.

“Well, what do you normally do with your friends?” Catra asked, having not spent any recreational time with anyone much, if at all.

“When Bow and I were younger we’d go for walks and adventures through the woods a lot, trying to find cool bugs or artifacts,” Glimmer immediately said, reflecting on a couple nice memories from her youth.

“B-bugs?! Why?!” Catra retorted with a slight disgust in her tone.

Glimmer wasn’t getting changed just yet, but she _was_ making a note at her desk, entailing that she was not going to be present at any meetings and that anything of importance should instead be forwarded to her Hand, Diana. “Yeah? Bugs are cool! Bow and I would constantly make up silly stories about them as if they were real people,” she responded with a giggle between writing sentences.

“Sounds stupid, but… kind of fun,” Catra admitted, envious of Bow’s friendship to Glimmer and how they could do stuff like _that_ together of all things.

This time formally sealing the note, she rolled up the note quite delicately before pressing the sigil against a drop of hot wax she poured out from a nearby cup she had used magic to heat, then promptly snapped her fingers to send it away with a poof of sparkles. Catra giggled under her breath, seeing her be all professional like that for her patrons but not for her, recalling the letter _she_ got from her yesterday.

“Then it’s a plan! Let’s go for a walk—bugs or not,” Glimmer laughed, beginning to undress and fit herself with looser, breathable attire. Catra tried her best not to watch, for her own good, but… it was fruitless. Her eyes were completely drawn to Glimmer’s curves as she wiggled into her shorts, feeling a tender beat in her chest as she drew in her breath. _Geez, Glimmer…_ she thought to herself, lost in her thoughts until the queen turned to look at her, now fully dressed. Catra’s eyes quickly shot back up to Glimmer’s, who looked a tad embarrassed noticing that Catra was staring. 

In a bit of a huff, Catra closed her eyes and shook her head before beginning to walk toward the door. “Alright, alright! Let’s go eat bugs or whatever!” she exclaimed, pacing somewhat hurriedly before realizing that they were _probably_ just going to teleport anyway. _Ugh._

Glimmer’s bashfulness turned promptly to joy as she put on some comfier fitting shoes to go walking in. The queenly heels she has been wearing to give herself some extra height have been taking its toll on her ankles at this point. Once she was ready, she grabbed a small bag to sling over her shoulder containing some writing utensils, paper, some currencies and a bottle for water for them to share. She gracefully walked over to meet Catra at the doorway and began to open the looming satin doorway, its swing reverberating any noise it made through the hallway it led to. Catra’s brows tightened as she looked down the hallway before asking “We’re not just going to teleport?” as if Glimmer was just being dumb.

The queen let out a chuckle before turning to her friend and reaching for her hand to pull her along. “No, I remembered this time,” she remarked with a smile of respect. Catra’s hand held onto Glimmer’s making her heartrate fly a little higher as she processed how generous Glimmer was being by not subjecting her to teleporting. When she tugged on her hand to pull, Catra could feel Glimmer’s hold slip as the two began to walk, but Catra wasn’t ready to let go. Glimmer stuttered a bit in her head as the two strode without eye contact, returning her grip on Catra’s hand. They walked in silence as they wandered the halls together, connected by the intertwining of their fingers as they made their way through the palace.

It was rather quiet, which may have been to their benefit. Nobody was there to bat their eyes at them holding hands and walking close to each other. Guards at various entrances paid them no mind, displaying only nods or bows of respect to Glimmer as the queen made her way down the halls. Even dressed as casually as possible, the citizens of Bright Moon still held high respect and politeness to her, something that even Glimmer wasn’t expecting. That thought was finally what made one of them say anything after several minutes.

“I’m… not even in my royal regalia—why are they still bowing?” Glimmer said somewhat under her breath toward Catra, who simply shrugged and grunted an ‘iunno’ response. 

“It’s not like you’re suddenly _not_ their queen,” Catra said aloud, giving it some thought herself. “You’re still the same Glimmer everyone loves,” she dropped.

“Pshh, there’s… a lot left to be desired, honestly,” Glimmer sighed, a small wave of insecurity forging her thoughts for her. “I only do so much, and I’m sure there are lots who disagree with my decisions…” she trailed off, frowning somewhat.

Catra remained silent and nothing was spoken for a couple minutes as they were nearing the palace’s exit towards the village. As soon as she could begin making sight of some of the residents, Catra pulled her hand away and slid it into her pocket. Glimmer looked over to Catra’s hand, then to her face, upset for a split second that she stopped, but soon it was obvious why and suddenly Glimmer felt a little flustered. _We held hands for that long?! I didn’t even notice,_ she pondered. 

“I dunno, Sparkles, these people are quite happy these days. You’re clearly doing _something_ right,” Catra said, observing the folks in their market stalls and elsewhere throughout the village street. She was noticing the odd person giving her strange looks, but there were also some that were smiling at her, and even waving to her. Returning some of the waves awkwardly, there was an odd feeling of joy that Catra felt from being accepted on smaller levels. Granted, she was with Glimmer, so _obviously_ they have to be nice, but… still.

“I suppose so,” Glimmer responded, raising her cheeks as various commoners said their thanks to her in passing. “I shouldn’t think too much about it,” she concluded, grabbing Catra’s arm to gesture her to follow her towards a stand that was sharing fresh water to folks. She happily greeted the man running the stall who was serving pastries and other beverages, politely sharing the bottle with the gentleman to get it filled up. He seemed somewhat tense, trying to be as proper as possible in his exchanges but stuttering somewhat. Glimmer didn’t pay it much mind and kept up her queenly demeanor as she picked out a couple danishes, leaving a handsome tip for him upon their departure.

Catra didn’t have any reason to get involved of course, so she just stood there a foot away in wait for Glimmer to be done her business, taking in some more of her surroundings as she twiddled her thumbs. There were a pair of kids chasing each other surrounding the building the stall was connected to. Two girls, quite young, one with pointed ears and violet skin and the other with more human features. They seemed to be roleplaying the fight against the horde, with one shouting _“for the honor of Grayskull!”_ at the other as they ran around trying to tag each other. It was… nice, and Catra couldn’t help but think it was cute.

By the time Glimmer was done, _she_ was now standing next to Catra waiting, having observed her fixation on the kids and letting her have that moment before finally interrupting it, “Cute, right?” she asked before taking some steps away. 

Catra came back to reality and tagged along quickly, gently responding. “Something like that.”

The girls continued their stroll through the village uneventfully until they reached the gate, in which Glimmer said few words to the guard manning it to have it opened. It was a magical barrier that was dropped, dissipating in front of them to let them through. The purple light of the gate seemed to obscure the other side, and suddenly the forest ahead was in crystal clear view across the prairie, a sight to behold for Catra for sure.

The path beneath them began to blend into the nature ahead of them as the looming trees began to shelter them upon reaching the forest’s entrance. They could hear the barrier be put back up behind them and Catra was unable to help herself from looking behind them. For the first time since her first attack against Bright Moon so long ago, she was able to take in the sight of the city from all the way down here and it was _astonishing._ The way the sun lit up the falls as they crashed down to the lakebed, the shimmer of the palace radiant and proudly harnessing its runestone, it was stunning. Fewer things rivaled its serenity, Catra thought, having fully stopped in her tracks.

Glimmer continued walking before realizing her friend had stopped, forcing her to turn around and walk back a few steps. She admired Catra who was rightfully awestruck and wanted her to keep enjoying the moment, coming up to her slowly and giving her a few seconds before reaching her hand out to hers again, somewhat automatically intertwining with hers as they touched again. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she asked softly.

“Yeah… geez,” Catra said, happy to accept Glimmer’s touch, finally tearing her eyes away from the sight in front of her. “It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. Just… so _beautiful,_ ” she added, finally turning toward Glimmer, whose gentle and radiant smile felt like a continuation of the panorama. _Just like you,_ she thought, her gaze darting around Glimmer’s soft face. The impulse to want to kiss her stupefied in that moment, not wanting to look away.

In seemingly the perfect moment, Glimmer took this opportunity to satisfy her want to share more of her feelings, spinning Catra’s sentiment back to her. “Then it’s a perfect fit for someone like you,” trying to imply her adoration for Catra’s own beauty, unwittingly reaching her other hand out to hold Catra’s free hand. 

The fire lit in Catra’s heart roared into a flame, trying to burn its way out as her breathing felt short. “Sh-shut up, Sparkles,” she bashfully spit out, turning her head away flustered. 

Glimmer couldn’t handle waiting any longer, getting up onto her toes and sliding a hand up to Catra’s face, her fingertips smoothing over her cheek until she dared to pull it back to face her now just inches away and feeling her hot breath against her own. 

Catra’s free hand found its way to Glimmer’s waist, sliding around to her back to cradle her closer, swallowing her own spit between breaths unable to formulate any words, only muttering “G-glimmer, I…” 

“Shhh.” Glimmer whispered, taking a few extra moments to soak in this feeling of warmth and love, so precariously close to Catra’s lips, until finally she gave in and pushed her own lips forward against hers.

Glimmer’s lips were pillowy and soft as their mouths tessellated against each other’s, the quivering in Catra’s face subsiding as she pulled Glimmer against her, completely giving into this feeling of want and adoration for her queen. She could feel Glimmer’s hand pull her face down to her as they held this stance for several seconds, feeling like minutes or even hours.

Finally, Glimmer’s lips left a lasting and supple sound as she pulled away, releasing a deep breath she had taken, frantic to make eye contact again, but at a loss for words trying to formulate her erratic thoughts. “Catra…” she managed to squeak out, before bashfully nuzzling her face against Catra’s shoulder and imposing a hug, to which Catra reciprocated tightly. 

The feline couldn't formulate any speech, this elated feeling of adrenaline leaving her stunned and smitten, unable to contain her emotions. “I think I…” she began, her claw gently running circles over Glimmer’s shoulder. “I think I want... to be with you,” she finally let out between breaths, to which Glimmer couldn’t contain her laughter, reveling in a feeling of ecstasy she couldn’t even begin to describe.

“Me too, Kitten,” Glimmer responded, muffledly against her as she tightened her embrace. “You make me feel so... free” she added, nuzzling her face against Catra’s neck. Catra's tail had completely wrapped itself around Glimmer’s leg as the two of them held each other for a couple minutes before the two of them began to unwind from this excitement. Catra’s purring was so aggressively playing against Glimmer’s chest that she didn’t want to stop, but she remembered that they came here to walk and enjoy the forest and still wanted to share that experience with her. Glimmer released herself to find Catra’s cheeks glistening ever so slightly and the two of them began to laugh as they once again found their way down the winding paths of the woods, not afraid to continue holding each other’s hands along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeee a smooch!!! That's all you get for now. ;)
> 
> http://glimmerposting.tumblr.com


	5. Welcome Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls spent the whole morning together, blissfully losing tracking of time until a familiar sound interrupts their stroll. Greeted by familiar faces, Glimmer hesitates to tell the truth and Catra is livid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter, fast-paced sounding chapter, but nonetheless, enjoy chapter 5! It kind of comes as a pair with chapter 6. ;)

Time felt ever absent as the two traversed the woods together, no goal in mind other than to step away from responsibility and enjoy the fresh air. In the Whispering Woods, the sun only poked through to pierce the beds of grass below from atop the towering trees and looming vines. Creatures roamed up and down the branches, skirting along the path from time to time as the girls took their time walking through, babbling about nonsense back and forth. From trivial opinions to embarrassing memories about Adora, and even to distant heartfelt memories of their caretakers, Glimmer and Catra hadn’t been able to stop smiling and giggling since setting foot into the forest. Sweat caused them to let go of each other’s hands, but would intermittently find themselves attached by the palm without thinking after several minutes each time they let go, creating a cycle of it. It was a beautiful, magical day for them both.

“Whaaat? There’s just no way that that’s _real!”_ Glimmer declared in response to Catra’s seemingly far fetched statement about the Fight Zone’s local wildlife.

“You really think I’d lie to you? They were _massive!”_ Catra rebutted, gesturing a wide spread of her arms and intentionally trying to look a little ridiculous, eliciting a laugh out of Glimmer.

“Whatever you say, Kitten! I’d need to see one to believe it.” she trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief. 

“Tell you wha-- huh?” Catra began, stopping in her tracks as her ears flickered.

“What is it, darling?” Glimmer asked with a spike of concern in her voice. Catra got a little distracted by Glimmer calling her that, but continued to listen closer.

“It’s… the ship?!” she said, cracking her voice as she squinted to look through some of the openings in the trees above. Low and behold, the First Ones’ spacecraft had entered orbit and was roaring through the sky toward Bright Moon. Adora and the crew were back.

“Today?! It hasn’t even been a month!” Glimmer exclaimed, blocking the sun with her hand to get a look at the ship.

“I wonder if it’s bad," Catra stated with concern, turning to Glimmer and then back to the sky before feeling Glimmer’s hand wrap around her wrist.

“Can we teleport?” Glimmer asked politely, bringing her other hand to Catra’s, looking up to her to make sure she was okay with it.

Catra let out a chuckle and rolled her eyes somewhat teasingly. “Fine, I’ll do it this time,” she admitted, closing her eyes to prepare herself for it this time. 

“Great!” the queen said with thrill in her voice, her grasp clenching tighter onto Catra. _Fwsh!_

—

The small prairie that Catra and Glimmer walked over to get to the forest was now home to the landed spacecraft, with several Bright Moon guards assisting in its safe land and eventual docking. The ramp plowed down into a patch of dirt that matched the shape of the staircase that descended. Puffs of wispy cool air shot out of the body of the craft as it was opened, and without any time to lose, Entrapta was rushing down the ramp with her arms full of strange looking stone artifacts, shouting at guards to get out of her way and even moving them out of the way herself with her hair. _That_ was the sight that Glimmer and Catra had arrived to, appearing between the massive ship and the forest’s entry.

“Can’t be _that_ bad, it seems,” Glimmer giggled, her hand still wrapped around Catra’s as they observed the frantic technician not even pay them any mind. Then, her eyes fixed their gaze toward the apex of the ramp, seeing the other two begin marching down, Bow trailing Adora as they began to take their helmets off on the way down. Glimmer’s excitement skyrocketed as she clenched onto Catra, though suddenly realizing that her friends were just about to see her holding Catra’s hand and rapidly ripping her hand away without a second thought.

 _...Huh?_ Catra thought, looking down at her hand and then to Glimmer, who panickedly looked right back at her.

“C-Catra, I--!”

 _“Glimmer!”_ both Adora and Bow said in unison, their feet now on solid ground as their walk turned to a run, squishing Glimmer between them before she could even take a step toward them.

Glimmer couldn’t resist a hearty laugh as she wrapped both of her arms around her friends, spinning around with them as they clung together. “You’re finally back!” she gleefully said, finally pulling her face back to look at both of them, unsure of who to focus on.

 _Hmmm._ Catra felt a little perturbed already from Glimmer’s sudden discretion after _all_ that’s happened today, but sank more into that feeling when Adora didn’t even say her name. She snarled under her breath as she simply waited, frustration building as the three of them remained absolutely magnetized to each other.

“We have _so_ much good news about some of the neighboring planets, Glimmer!” Bow eagerly announced once the three of them weren’t touching each other.

“Yes, _yes!_ That’s great, Bow!” Glimmer remarked with excitement.

“With Prime’s grip gone, _two_ of the planets we visited already had life growing on them! It was incredible!” Adora shouted, finally turning to face Catra, who for some reason hadn’t just completely bailed despite the circumstances. _“Catra!”_ she continued, quickly stepping over to pull her into an embrace.

She was a little annoyed at first, but still felt a bitter happiness and hugged her back. “Heeey, Adora,” she snickered, her claws rubbing Adora’s head after she let go. “Good to… have you back,” she admitted, a bit of a smirk on her face trying to keep her cool despite how she was feeling.

“Good to _be_ back! It felt like so long up there, I was couldn't wait to see you guys,” Adora solemnly stated, bouncing looks between the two friends she missed so dearly. 

“It’s perfect timing!” Glimmer piped up, her and Bow both stepping toward the Adora and Catra circle before continuing, “Catra and I were-- uh…” she paused, looking to Catra and then to the forest as a shiver of anxiety ran down her back. Was she _ready_ to tell Adora and Bow about… _whatever_ happened today?! “Umm, I took the day off rulership to come help clean up the forest aaand Catra wanted to help!”

Catra’s face shriveled with annoyance, somewhat shaking her head as Glimmer _lied_ to Adora, making brief eye contact with Bow whose face grew a little concerned as he looked at her. She didn’t want any trouble, so… she rolled with it.

“S-something like that.” Catra trailed off, her arms crossed without thinking as her tail slapped the back of her leg, not daring to make eye contact with any of them.

“Aww, yes! I’m so happy you wanted to help, Catra!” Adora excitedly remarked. 

“W-well, don’t get used to it! I had nothing else to do today…” she shouted, finally looking at Glimmer with a tone of disgust soon to follow. “And now that I’m done helping, I’ve got my _own_ things to do,” she bellowed, uncrossing her arms and walking past Adora and Glimmer on Adora’s side, stopping briefly at Bow and exchanging the slightest of grins. “Hey, Bow,” she added before stomping off toward the gate of Bright Moon.

Glimmer’s heart _sank_ with regret. _Glimmer, what the hell?!_ she furiously thought to herself, feeling her heartrate surge as her fists clenched, releasing her stilled breath. “She uh…” Glimmer started, but began shaking her head and slowly shrugged.

“That’s just Catra, I’m sure she’s honestly thrilled to see us!” Adora said with confidence.

“We’ll catch her up later—want to join Adora and I for lunch? We’re _starving,”_ Bow asked, his hand subconsciously finding its way to his own belly as his mind wandered to thoughts of the palace kitchen.

“S-sure,” Glimmer said with a chink in her speech, trying to shake it off with a second affirmation. “Yes! Let’s do it,” she smiled, collecting herself and offering her help in any last minute cleanup the ship might need. After which, she joined her friends on their way to the palace where she would fill her worry-filled belly.

—

 _Hmmngh._ Catra groaned, her arm covering her eyes as she laid against her messy bed, not a single light on nor windows open. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she threw herself down onto her bed, nor kept count of the angry conversations she held with herself trying to make sense of why the girl she shared such a wonderful, tender moment with suddenly turned coat on her once her _real_ friends got back. Anger didn’t even begin to describe it, but Catra’s body was absolutely _heated_ , riddled with confusion, frustration and sadness all at once, which… tiring.

_Rrrgh…_

_Hm…_

_..._

_..._

_Bang-bang-bang!_

“H-huh?!” Catra shot up, alert to the sudden noise as her eyes darted around the dark room, not even a reflection of the light peering from behind the curtains. _How long was she out just now?_

_Bang-bang-bang!_

“Wh-what?! What do you _want?!_ ” she yelled in response, a little disoriented as she hopped off of the bed.

“C-catra, it’s me!” Glimmer’s voice said through the door, and hearing it made Catra want to scream.

“N-no! _No!_ Do _not_ come in!” she shouted, jumping to the door to lock it firmly, the adrenaline pumping in her body.

“Catra, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry for what I said, _please!”_ Glimmer cried out, followed by a lengthy silence before she spoke again. “I-I brought you dinner, I know you didn’t eat… can I at least give you that?”

Catra didn’t realize how famished she felt, the last thing she ate being the single danish from earlier in the morning. It… would be foolish to turn down the offer and go to bed hungry. She didn’t open the door right away, but after a short window of time to let herself cool off a little, she unlocked the door. Nothing else.

Glimmer twisted its handle gently, pushing the door open into the blackened room. She took a deep breath before stepping inside, closing the door behind her as she held a platter with today’s dish with her other arm. She stood there for a few moments, wanting to wait for a light to come on, but after acknowledging that that may not happen, she lit her palm with a purple hue to dimly light the room. Catra was sitting on the edge of her bed looking toward Glimmer with furrowed brows and tight lips. She pointed toward the lamp on one of the tables next to the doorway, and Glimmer simply nodded, placing the platter down next to it before reaching behind it to turn it on. It was _much_ brighter than she anticipated, her eyes reeling from its sudden shine in her face.

The air was _thick_ after today, the day that started so brilliantly for the two of them, now in the dirt because of a pride Glimmer didn’t even know she had. Seconds turned into minutes of silence as Glimmer brought the platter over to Catra, who took it and began scarfing down food like she was never gonna eat again. 

“I’m sorry,” Glimmer repeated after several minutes of nothing. “I shouldn’t have… said that,” she admitted, twirling her fingers together as she sat a foot away from Catra on the edge of the bed close to her. “I shouldn’t have hidden anything, I just-- I didn’t know what--.”

“You shouldn’t have _kissed_ me is what.” Catra scorned, ripping a sizeable bite off the bone she feasted upon. 

“N-no, Catra, I-- I…” Glimmer began, her emotions beginning to stop her from being able to speak cohesively. “Th-that’s not it!” she cried. “I just wasn’t ready to tell them! I _want_ to tell them, I just--”

“No, Glimmer,” Catra said pointedly, finally looking to her and setting the plate down on her knees. “If you wanted to… you would have. You felt guilty!” Catra raised her voice, slamming her fork against the metal sheet, the noise reverberating throughout the room and making Glimmer wince.

Glimmer moved forward with both hands to reach out. “C-catra, please…--!” 

_“Do not touch me!”_ Catra shouted, flinging herself up from the bed and letting the platter hit the floor, the plate atop it crashing into pieces, ceramic shards scattering about. “You should just go… clearly I was only temporary,” Catra said, lowering her voice back down as she walked over to the door to open it for Glimmer, but by the time she had reached out for the handle, _fwsh!_

The feline turned around, and the queen was no longer in her presence. Catra slunk down against the door, cupping her head in her hands as the waterworks began to spin wildly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://glimmerposting.tumblr.com


	6. Familiar Restlessness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a heated encounter, Glimmer's sleepless night causes her to falter in her responsibilities, while Catra can't bring herself to even leave her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you thought Chapter 3 was emotional, hoooo boy! Enjoy~

“Wh—huh?” Glimmer shot up from her seat, her head crashing into the cushion of the throne. It was the third time that her Hand, Diana had tapped the queen’s knee with her lance. _Damn it, how are there so many today?!_ she thought, mindlessly raising her feeble-feeling hand up to usher the next citizen in to make their hearing. With a grunt, Glimmer forced herself to stand up once again to welcome her subject.

“You stand before the thirtieth Queen of Bright Moon and Guardian of Etheria, Glimmer. State your name,” she announced, somewhat on autopilot as she began to sit back down and listen to the woman’s name. 

“I am Elizabeth of the Montrose family, here to ask safe passage for my son to Salineas,” she confidently spoke.

Glimmer’s eyes were squinting to stay awake as she could already feel herself beginning to doze off once again. _Elizabeth… travel. Okay, that sounds reasonable._ “Madame Elizabeth, we will see to it that you are properly aided for your journey north of the woods,” she spoke with confidence, which was followed by a pause that she raised a brow at, looking to her guards.

“I believe you meant to the west, to Salineas, as they requested, Your Grace,” her Hand muttered without looking over.

 _“Salineas!_ To Salineas. Not the Kingdom of Snows, forgive me. We will see to it at once—Husain, please escort… Um--”

Diana sighed, “Elizabeth, Your Grace.”

“Elizabeth... to the captain’s quarters for them to issue her further instruction,” Glimmer embarrassingly corrected, raising two fingers against her temple. The member of the royal court she spoke to raised their hand in response, to which Glimmer asked “Yes?”

“You see, Your Grace, our general Dahlia is… unavailable, assisting our associate Huntara in clearing out some of the wreckage in the wastes,” Husain regrettably said, bowing his head. 

Glimmer’s patience was on thin ice, and that might have been the last error she could handle. She let out a frustrated sigh, before correcting herself once again with whatever reserve of patience she could draw upon. “Okay… Husain, if you would kindly escort her to whoever is standing in… no. _Ugh!”_ she stammered, both hands on the sides of her head as she tightly closed her eyes, failing to focus.

“Apologies for our queen, Elizabeth. Husain will see you to who will supply you with able-bodied travelers,” Diana stoicly delivered, waving her out. Elizabeth simply held her hands up toward the Hand of the Queen and followed who she was told out of the throne room. Upon her exit, Diana announced to the court “10 minutes until the next visitor.”

 _Ugh. Not a good look._ Glimmer silently thought to herself as she could already feel herself nodding off _again,_ but able to shake herself out of it as her body involuntarily vibrated from a sudden rush of alertness.

“Your Grace, is everything alright? Forgive my intrusion, but you seem unwell,” Diana turned, softly delivering her question to Glimmer.

“Yep! Perfectly fine! Never better!” Glimmer giggled, with a quick sigh to follow. 

“You should rest, there is always tomorr--”

“No!" her voice raised. "I missed yesterday, I need to work extra today to… make up for it,” she managed to finish, feeling her consciousness slip between words.

“I am sorry, Your Grace, but I implore you to center yourself. I will take over until you have recovered,” Diana insisted, fully turned to face her queen.

Glimmer sat there glaring at the open podium ahead of her, then toward the stained glass where silhouettes of her citizens lined up. Letting out yet another involuntary sigh, she gave up the charade and obliged. “Okay… I will rest,” she defeatedly announced, standing up from her seat. “Thank you, Diana.”

“It is my honor to serve. Rest well, Queen Glimmer,” she nodded, as two guards began to escort Glimmer away from the throne and into the royal halls. She quickly glanced at her lineup of subjects who were all staring at her with curiosity as she sank into a stupor of guilt. Step after step, using all of her energy to stay on her feet, thoughts of what Catra said to her continuously impeded any train of thought that came, but one line more than others. 

_“I was only temporary.”_

Glimmer felt horrible for making her feel that way. Not only was it so far from the truth, but she knew exactly _how_ it made Catra hurt, reflecting on the stories Catra shared about Shadow Weaver, Hordak, and even some about Adora. Why? _Why?!_ She couldn’t shake the regret of her impulse decision to hide her feelings for Catra from the two people she loved and trusted the most. What was she afraid of? What could Adora and Bow have _possibly_ thought or said that would have harmed her, or worse, Catra? These thoughts imposed themselves unanswered since the minute she woke up, if she could even _call_ it waking up. By the time she had wound down from all the crying fits, the sun had already began to rise, it was _that_ late when she finally got any sleep before starting her early day. It took all of her energy to stay in her room and not just go back to Catra’s no matter how much she desperately wanted it. _Needed_ it. 

She was nearing the upper hallways converging on her room, when Adora’s door flung open, and her headstrong friend marched out, somewhat caught off guard to see Glimmer and her guards just a few steps away on their approach. “Oh! Glimmer! I thought you had hearings today?” she asked directly.

Glimmer loosely raised a hand to signal her guards away before shrugging slowly. “My head’s just not in it today,” she said, trying to hold her eyes open to meet Adora’s, whose gaze turned to one of concern rather quickly.

“A-are you doing alright? What’s going on, Glims?” Adora asked, taking a step forward but not forcing her comfort onto Glimmer just yet.

There were parts of Glimmer that wanted to share _everything_ and just break down, and she was certainly verging on that. However, she was just so worn and tired that she felt like she couldn’t properly articulate it, and what she wanted to talk to Adora about _needed_ full awareness so as to not forget anything. After an exasperated sigh, Glimmer lowly responded. “Something… a lot more complex than it should be. I’ll be alright—always am!” she smiled with a hint of optimism sprinkled in at the end.

Adora knew Glimmer was keeping whatever it was from her, but she was more worried about Glimmer’s state and decided it wouldn’t be wise to press her. “Okay… You _know_ you can tell me absolutely anything, any time,” Adora smiled, opening her arms for a hug. Glimmer sunk into it with a deep sigh against Adora’s chest. 

“I know—thank you, Adora,” she said softly, not holding on for long as she continued on the last few steps to her quarters. Adora parted ways and went about her business, but left with worry.

The doors shut behind Glimmer and she almost collapsed right there onto the floor. Not wanting to walk any further, she tried to harness whatever energy she could to teleport to her bed. _Fwsh!_ And at the drop of a hat, she lied there. She did not care to take her crown, earrings, or any makeup off. Not even the cape. She simply laid there, until enough seconds went by to knock her right out after such a sleepless, exhausting night had passed.

—

Catra had been sleeping on and off, and in pure contrast to Glimmer, was absolutely sleeping her day away. Whenever she would wake up, she would toss and turn in her bed to try and get comfortable and drift back to sleep where she didn’t have to think. Soon enough it was the middle of the afternoon and hours had passed since she last dozed off. There was only so much looking at the ceiling that she could do as thoughts of Glimmer persisted. The scene of her lying to Adora played on repeat, bringing her frustration, though woven between were flashes of her yelling at Glimmer the way she did. She didn’t know _what_ she should feel. Anguish was a good way to put it, not knowing whether to feel justified or not for her own actions.

Finally, as it was nearing dusk, she decided to satisfy the sharp hunger she felt once again in her gut. There was no way she could keep herself in here, no matter how much she didn’t want to see Glimmer by accident. She slipped into some casual attire, out of the underwear she was accustomed to sleeping in and stepped foot into the halls to wander to the kitchen.

Her walk was uneventful, which she was grateful for. The same thoughts penetrated her mind but she was at this point too driven by her stomach to care about them in the same capacity as she did back in her room. She was hoping for _something_ warm, but would honestly eat just about anything to sate her hunger. When she reached the doors to the dining hall, she crept inside slowly, feeling somewhat insecure about her presence whenever she was alone. To her relief, Bow was sitting at one of the tables with his trinkets and gadgets laid out, and a sandwich half eaten. _Well, there was worse company to be kept._

“Bow. You going to finish that?” she said, startling the poor boy somewhat.

“Catra! Hey!” he said, chipper as ever. “I don’t think so—you want it?”

“I’d be lying if I said no,” she teased, taking a seat across from him and pulling the plate towards her, going to town on it pretty much right away. There wasn’t much to talk about, and Bow was a little distracted as it was, but Catra did want to chat at least a little bit to quell her brain. “So, happy to be back?” she asked, as small o’ talk as that may be.

“Boy, am I _ever!_ I love space, but I also love _my_ space, you know what I mean?” he said with that patented Bow smirk.

“Geez, do I ever,” Catra said with a half-chuckle thinking about how ironic it was the he said that to her right now.

“What about you? What did you do instead, since you wanted to stay behind for Glimmer’s sake?” he fired back, putting down a tool and picking up the next.

 _Right. That was_ exactly _why she stayed back from the mission, and she even said it to them. Eugh._

“We… um,” she paused for a moment, her eyes widening as she shook her head back to reality. “We didn’t do a lot. Talked. She said some things, I said some things. Y’know. _Friend_ stuff,” she said snarkily. 

Bow looked over at Catra with undivided attention, not really sure how to receive what Catra just said. “Well, that’s… good? I guess?” he asked in response.

“Well, it didn’t matter that much! She was busy every day, and when she made time for me, she just… ugh. It doesn’t matter,” Catra scoffed, aggressively munching on the next bite of the sandwich.

“Yeah, I could tell she’s been busy. She looked… I dunno—horrible, today? I-in the nicest way!” Bow stammered, realizing what came out of his mouth. Catra felt a spike of anxiety thinking just what Bow might have meant by that, before he continued. “Adora saw her bail out from her hearings today in the early afternoon. Her and I went to check on her and I’ve never seen her so out of commission like that.” 

On one hand, Catra felt like Glimmer deserved it for being so cruel to her and playing with her feelings, but on the other, that was the woman that she cared for, in pain. Probably no thanks to her screaming at her last night. “Y-yeah?” she asked after assessing what Bow shared.

“Yeah, poor girl,” he softly spoke, beginning to revisit his gadgets. 

Catra wracked her brain to decide whether or not she should go see Glimmer. So much of her thoughts screamed no, and that it would be stupid to stroke the ego of someone whose feelings are a lie, but there was a feeling in her gut that she just couldn’t ignore. Maybe it was just an overreaction on Catra’s part, unfair for Glimmer to be subjected to for so long. Guilt found its footing as Catra sat there silently watching Bow crank away at… whatever it was he was building.

“Hey… thanks, Bow,” Catra said with gratitude, before realizing how out of place that might have sounded since she didn’t share anything about what happened. “F-for the sandwich. Thanks,” she concluded, stepping up from the table.

“My pleasure! It’s nice to see you again Catra,” Bow said with a shining grin on his face, pausing his work to wave. 

“Hah! You too, nerd.” she teased, leaving him with a chuckle and a wink before making her way out to the halls again.

_Here goes nothing._

—

Glimmer twisted and turned, her bed in complete disarray from how much she’d been moving in her short bursts of sleep. Recurring dreams of vague screaming continuously stopped her from truly getting _any_ rest, leaving her just as exhausted as before. The anxiety she felt was horrible, wishing she could just go back to yesterday and fix what she said more than anything else. The sun had begun setting past the horizon, its orange hues illuminating her room as she continued to lay restlessly against her beaten mattress. She was startled at the banging of the door.

_Bang bang bang!_

“A-adora?” Glimmer cried out feebly, recalling Adora saying that she was going to stop by again later if she didn’t see Glimmer for dinner. Who knows what time it was or how long she’d been laying there.

The door began to crack open slowly, and Catra eased her head inside the room and looked around to find Glimmer hidden within the veils of her bed. 

“Adora, is that you?” she asked again, this time crawling up to move the veil out of the way, to see who… “C-Catra?!” she said, surprised. 

“Shhh, yes… it’s me,” she admitted with a frown, not making direct eye contact for several seconds. “Can I come in?” she asked quietly.

“Y-yeah… please,” Glimmer affirmed, not _completely_ certain if that’s what she wanted, but she was too tired to really process that _Catra_ was the one visiting.

“Cool,” Catra calmly said, slinking inside the room and slowly closing the door. It began to dawn on Glimmer just how weird this felt, shaking her head somewhat as she sat on her knees with one hand holding the veil aside so that she could look at Catra. 

“Wh-why? What are you doing here?” she asked, as pointedly as she could given her state of consciousness.

“I’m… checking on you, Sparkles,” Catra begrudgingly said. “And… I wanted to talk. That’s all.”

Glimmer took a slight breath in and out before nodding, then pushing the veil aside to keep it open so that Catra could come join her, close or not.

She hesitated, but shortly walked herself over, opening the other side of the veil further and sitting against the side of the bed a few feet away from where Glimmer sat against her pillows. It was… awkward. _Very_ awkward. They just looked at each other, breathing somewhat heavily not knowing who should talk first, until Catra finally piped up.

“I… didn’t mean to yell at you. Well, not the way I did. I wanted t—I was just… hurt,” she managed to share all in one go.

Glimmer nodded, not wanting to push the boundary if she could help it.

“I… _really_ care for you, Glimmer. I thought yesterday was enough to show you…” Catra said somberly, beginning to curl her knees up to her chin.

“It was. It _was_ , Catra.” Glimmer said, wanting her to know how much she truly appreciated yesterday.

“Then—! Why?! _Why,_ Glimmer? You shook me off so fast… just like the others did, as soon as you saw Adora and Bow,” she continued, her voice dampening the more she spoke.

Glimmer didn’t waste any time, having had nothing but time to think about exactly that. “Catra, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I know how much behavior like that stings, and I promise… I would never wish you to feel that. _Especially_ not from me,” She concluded, curling up herself as she rubbed a tear from her face.

Catra said there, wallowing in wait, not knowing what to say next and unable to stop herself from sniffling. 

“You are… allowed to be upset with me. I can’t tell you how to feel, but… I _can_ tell you how much I care about you, and…” she paused, wanting to just come out with it already, “…how much I love you.”

_L-... love... you?_

Catra’s ears perked right up as she looked over to Glimmer, who was already looking at her with longing. She sniffled quite audibly as her lips began to tremble, feeling the oncoming storm of emotions as she found the words to respond. “G-glimmer, I…” she started, unable to maintain her composure as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I-I… I love _you_ , Glimmer,” she stuttered out, staying her tears for one last sentence. “And that’s why it hurt so much.” 

Glimmer began to choke up coughing into her elbow as she caught her breath, using the blanket to wipe her face and compose herself again. “I’m just… I’m so sorry for not thinking first. I will never put you in a position like that again, Catra,” she said with conviction. “I want you to be happy, to _make_ you happy.”

There was another bout of silence as the two of them processed their feelings, a couple minutes having gone by as the sun continued to set, the room surrounding them blending into a deep purple hue. Eventually, Catra lifted her chin up from the forearms she bent over her knees. “I-I want the others to know…” she declared, just wanting to stop talking and go and touch the woman she loved. 

“They will, I promise,” Glimmer said, nodding furiously as their eyes met again. Catra nodded as well, beginning to uncurl her tail from her legs and lift her arms up from against her knees.

“C-can I… come over there?” Catra asked hesitantly, to which Glimmer was already beginning to lean back against her pillows with desperate nodding, ready to welcome Catra in open arms. The feline sniffled one last time before rubbing her eyes and shifting her body into a crawl, easing herself over top of Glimmer as she nestled herself against her shoulder and neck, both arms around her as Glimmer’s reached to pull the blanket up over them both.

Glimmer’s delicate fingers traced circles over Catra’s back as the two of them laid there, listening to and _feeling_ each other’s breathing so intimately as they began to fully wind down from their discussion. It had grown fully dark as the two laid half awake, just mesmerized by the other’s soft touches against theirs.

Catra broke the lengthy silence while she was still awake. “Glimmer…”

“Yes?” she responded gently.

“I vow not to yell at you like that again,” Catra said with utmost sincerity, unknowingly stirring a giggle in the woman beneath her. “H-hey!”

“S-sorry, Kitten. I just didn’t know we were making our _vows_ so soon,” Glimmer teased, laughing sweetly at her partner. 

“Sh-shut! Shut up! That’s not what I _meant!”_ Catra flusteredly said, somewhat aggressively nuzzling against Glimmer’s neck to get back at her.

“I know… I know. Thank you for saying that, darling,” Glimmer said refraining from any more teasing. She could begin to feel Catra’s purrs as her consciousness faded, the pair blissfully out in no time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://glimmerposting.tumblr.com


	7. Clarity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Glimmer finally found peace in their newfound relationship, but at a price they weren't sure they were ready to pay, nor thought to consider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, you thought the tension was over?!
> 
> enjoy this next arc of Losing Sleep!

“Are you _sure_ , Adora? It’s late and she might be asleep already,” Bow said with hesitation in his voice as they neared Glimmer’s doors unsure if it was wise to interrupt her rest.

“Yeah, of course I’m sure! I _told_ her I would come back later—it’s fine, promise!” Adora responded confidently, a few steps ahead of Bow.

The two stood cautiously outside the door, even Adora having second thoughts as she turned to Bow who grimaced as they both looked toward the handle, only to be met with a sudden feeling of shock. The door was somewhat ajar already, and Glimmer was too proper to fumble with politeness’ like leaving a door open, _especially_ her own bedroom. Adora attributed it to her exhaustion, and pushed her hand forward to move the door inward, ensuring its slow swing so as to not make any noise. 

“Adora, we don’t _have_ to do this, I’m sure she’s fine!” Bow stammeringly whispered, stopping his hand halfway as if he wanted to stop Adora but refrained to keep quiet.

“Yes, we _do!”_ Adora loudly whispered back as she took a step forward, poking her head in the door, still looking reprimandingly at Bow before turning her head inside Glimmer’s room and letting out an involuntary gasp, her hand flying up to her mouth to seal it.

“What? _What?!”_ Bow exclaimed quietly. “Adora, what _is_ it?!” he continued, his hand on Adora’s shoulder as his head tried to peer over her and into Glimmer’s room, but to no avail.

Adora shot back, her hand still clutching the handle as she used the other to push Bow back a bit, reeling from what she saw. At this point, she was shaking her head somewhat as her eyebrows began to converge on themselves. “I-it’s Catra! They’re…?!” she muttered, letting go of the door as it remained ajar, beginning to pace around in the hallway. 

Bow still confused as ever, went to peer into the bedroom himself. “Catra’s _what,_ Ador-” he started, only to let out a gasp of his own before promptly pulling the door shut without thinking. Catra was buried in Glimmer’s neck as she cradled her, completely dormant overtop of Glimmer’s ragged blankets and pillows.

The two of them exchanged looks of confusion, with Adora’s face donning feelings of discomfort and frustration at seeing the girl she admired cuddling someone _else_ , and _Glimmer_ of all people. 

“What the hell, Bow?!” she exclaimed, recognizing her volume before repeating herself in a whisper. “What the _hell?!”_

Bow’s shrug could not go any higher as his head continued to shake, trying to make sense of it. But there was no point in being frantic about it in the hallway like that, he thought. “I don’t know, but let’s talk… somewhere else about it.” he recommended, beginning to walk down the hall and encouraging Adora to follow them as the two of them swiftly made their exit.

Several minutes had flown by as the two of them wound up at Adora’s room, the door shut as Bow was subjected to Adora’s indistinguishable venting. While he was happy to listen, he still had to process it for himself. He has _always_ had feelings for Glimmer, and wasn’t sure if they were in a more-than-friends kind of way, or more like family. It never felt like they had the chance to properly figure those feelings out, and personally never paid it much mind as he was just happy to be around her any time they were together which was just fine for Bow. Seeing her so physically bound to Catra, however… that was a whole different script that he did not know could have been written.

As Adora continued to banter and aimlessly carry a brush around in her clutches, Bow tried to tie everything together, _wanting_ to understand as much as he could with what he knew in that analytical Bow fashion. She _did_ share a lot about her time with Catra up on Horde Prime’s flagship, but never really shared much of the details. Just that they got to be friends a couple weeks into their isolation together, bonding and beginning to understand each other. That alone is enough of a foundation to build off of, but then came the thought about Angella, of which Catra was _directly_ responsible for. Surely Glimmer resented her for that? It just didn’t add up that they would be more than just friends or acquaintances after all the hurt Catra’s given Glimmer.

Whatever Bow was contemplating, he was slapped back into reality upon Adora shouting something in particular that rung in his ears. “Catra _couldn’t_ love Glimmer!” she had shouted. What evidence was there to suggest that as the absolute truth? Bow knew more than anyone just how lovable Glimmer was, from her fiery ambition to her endearing laughter. Surely Catra could see the same things he saw in her. 

“Why not?” Bow interjected with a face full of query to Adora.

“Wha--! You’re _defending_ her, Bow?!” Adora yelled back, her arms an extension of her attitude as they flung forward in disbelief.

“I-I’m just saying it’s not impossible! I mean… is this not the same Glimmer _we_ both know and love?” he presented, gesturing to himself as he spoke.

Adora sighed heavily, rubbing the sides of her head and releasing a frustrated grunt before crumpling down on the floor beneath her. Her feelings were bouncing from wall to wall, truly unsure of what to make of the whole ordeal. It was hard not to juggle assumptions. I mean, Catra _kissed_ her in the heart of Etheria just a few weeks ago! Was that not where Catra’s heart lied? Adora just couldn’t understand how she missed the signs, if there even were any.

It was Adora who then began to try and piece the story together, reflecting back on instances where Catra and Glimmer might have found their feelings for each other. There were certainly standoffs where her and Bow weren’t present, thinking back on the fight Glimmer shared in the cave hideout. Then there was of course the _months_ they spent together on Horde Prime’s flagship. It would be silly for them not to come out of that with a stronger bond, for better or worse, but… _ugh!_

“Adora... “ Bow began softly, breaking the silence. “They’re our friends, the least we could do is listen to them.”

“It’s just--!” Adora retorted, unable to articulate her thoughts. “Catra… I thought-- I thought she loved _me_ ,” she admitted, anxiously beginning to bite her nails. She wallowed in that anxiety, looking to Bow for some form of validation.

Bow sighed, unsure of what he could say. He didn’t know Catra as intimately as Adora knew her, feeling as if he couldn’t possibly understand the intricacies of Adora’s feelings. Instead of deciding to share anything fruitless, he stood up and straightened out his top. “We should get some rest of our own, and talk with them about it tomorrow,” he recommended. 

Adora simply nodded as her eyes were completely zoned out, swimming in repetitive thoughts. “Okay,” she said. “Thanks, Bow. Get a good sleep,” she concluded with a hint of raised spirits as she held a slight smile up to Bow. He nodded, then stepped toward the door and out to the halls to find his way to his own. Adora flung herself back against her bed and let out an intense sigh that shook her lips audibly. It was going to be a rough night.

—

_“Hey…”_

_…_

_“Sweetie, get up.”_

_… Mmmfh._

Catra could feel her shoulder getting shaken gently as her eyelids gently lifted, struggling to stay open for any length of time. The feline felt a yawn burgeoning and her body contorted to help get it out, Glimmer’s hand being pulled away as she let it out. Her tail flicked in tandem with it as she began to take in the light of the morning, Glimmer’s face basking in it as she smiled in front of her. She was fully dressed in her queenly regalia, just sitting on the edge of her bed with a hand extended toward Catra and planted beside her against the bed.

“I waited as long as I could!” she giggled, placing her hand on Catra’s leg overtop the sheets she laid within. 

“Why?” Catra asked, confused why she hadn’t been awoken sooner to at least have some time to wake up before leaving.

“Well, you slept in your clothes, so I didn’t think you needed much time,” Glimmer laughed. “Besides, I’m not making you leave or anything if you don’t want to,” she added, glancing over to the window and the spaciousness of her quarters.

“I want food,” Catra growled, beginning to unfurl herself from the blankets. “So wait for me.”

The queen nodded with agreement, “Alright, Kitten.” She stepped up as her heels clicked with her steps, nearing the door and reaching for a cape to complete her ensemble as Catra made the motions to find her footing as well. 

With one tall stretch to jolt the rest of her body awake, Catra was ready for the day despite kind of smelling like sleep. Her version of ‘ready’ was of course the bare minimum at times, in this case with tangled hair and crimped clothing. 

Glimmer sighed as she teleported over to her vanity and reached for a brush, and then to Catra, quick to get a hold of her shoulder from behind and begin running the brush against her head.

“H-hey! Get _off_ of me!” Catra yelped with a small jump to get away, to which Glimmer couldn’t contain her laughter. 

“You’re not leaving looking like _that!”_ she commanded, quick to cut the distance and get her hands on Catra again, to which this time Catra simply admitted defeat and begrudgingly let Glimmer win. It wasn’t much—just a few strokes to straighten out the clumps—but it was the least Glimmer could do to make her partner look presentable. 

After some more giggles and teasing, the two of them finally graced the hallway, this time with no hesitation to keep a good grip on each other’s hands as they strode through. Kind gestures were made towards the queen as they passed by, but they certainly got several odd glances woven in too. Two soldiers who were making their rounds in passing shared comments amongst themselves after the two pairs crossed paths. _“Is she holding the queen’s hand?” “Why?”_ were some of the questions Catra continued to hear as they walked, giving her a strange feeling of insecurity. 

Glimmer wasn’t completely oblivious to it, rubbing her thumb against the back of Catra’s palm. “It’s alright,” she said under her breath, before following up with a whisper. “Nobody can tell me no,” which made Catra chuckle. 

“Oh yeah? Or what, they’ll be _executed?”_ Catra teased as she muttered back. Glimmer gave her a smile of disapproval and that only made Catra laugh further. 

The couple continued marching toward the dining hall, coming up towards and passing Adora’s room, giving both of them a strange sensation of a sinking feeling. For Glimmer, it was a reminder of her actions and that she had to hold her promise to tell her today. Catra on the other hand suddenly felt a spike of guilt, understanding that Adora may still think that she has feelings for her. It wasn’t long ago that Catra confessed—physically, no less—how she felt for so long about Adora, only to realize how blindsighted by redemption she was, coming to terms with how she truly felt. Her admiration and envy toward Adora was her driving force to keep fighting for so long—years!—and because she believed it for so long… she never thought twice about it. When she finally had some true peace and time to reflect on it, all the things she thought she longed for from Adora… were already given to her by Glimmer, who took the time (albeit forced upon them by Horde Prime) to understand her.

There simply was no easy way to break the news, Catra thought as they came up to the dining hall entrance. As they began to turn its corner, Catra let go of Glimmer, who didn’t think anything of it as the dining hall was busiest during the morning. Folks near the entrance made their politenesses to the queen as she made her steps inside, with Catra following just a couple steps behind her as Glimmer led them to the back of the room where the royal table was stationed. There were three open seats, each seat adorned with a the First Ones’ glyph of those who were to sit there. _Glimmer, Micah, Angella_ in that order.

“Here, you can sit in my seat—I’ll take my Dad’s while he’s not here,” Glimmer gestured, holding her hand toward the table to guide Catra along. “I’ll snag us a feast!” she exclaimed afterwards, and not seconds later, _fwsh!_ Off she went.

Catra sat… somewhat awkwardly, looking down at the beautiful silk placemats and elaborately placed utensils before her, then observing the crowd of folks sitting in various spots throughout the dining hall. There were three primary rows of tables with the kitchen and its buffet on one side and a tall balcony opposite from it. The highest concentration of folks dining were nearest to the entrance, whereas the royal table was near the back. She wasn’t unfamiliar with this room by any means, but sitting _here_ of all places certainly felt strange. It didn’t help that several groups were exchanging glances to Catra that began to make her feel small and disapproved of.

 _Hurry up, Sparkles_ she thought, her tail swaying erratically in her lap as she grabbed it to hold it still. When she thought it couldn’t feel any more embarrassing, Adora took her first steps into the dining hall and Catra’s heart just _sank._ Of course she had to show up right _now_ of all times. 

To Catra’s relief, Glimmer reappeared in a purple wisp of glitter with two plates packed with breakfast foods, gently placing them down in their spots. “Got the goods!” she proclaimed, teleporting into her father’s seat to get down to business, but not before the sight of Adora caught her eye. “Adora!” Glimmer called out, Catra wincing at the idea of Adora coming over to see them.

Adora looked toward Glimmer, raising a hand to wave from across the room and forcing a smile, which soon faded as she glanced toward Catra. She hadn’t been able to think of anything else _but_ Glimmer and Catra, and while she wasn’t surprised to see them, it didn’t feel good to see them sitting together and affirming what she saw last night. Her smile dissipated as she swatted her emotions away in favor of finding her spot in the line to the breakfast buffet.

 _Could she… know already?_ Catra contemplated, laser-focused on Adora’s behavior. Completely fixated on the possibility, she didn’t even realize she hadn’t taken a bite of food and quickly snapped out of it to fill her belly up. “Thanks, Sparkles,” she mentioned between bites.

“Don’t mention it!” Glimmer responded, already halfway done with her meal. By the time the two of them were polishing up their plates, Adora had finished plating up. Glimmer had been watching her in hopes to invite her over to sit with them, inevitably finding eye contact and waving her toward them. Adora smiled at Glimmer, but turned around and began walking out of the dining hall making a swift exit.

“Hmm, I wonder what she’s up to today,” the queen questioned, gently resting her chin on her fist for a few moments.

Catra felt certain now, and she couldn’t put a finger on why, but... _she knows._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just when you thought there wasn't going to be any resolution to Catradora. wham!
> 
> http://glimmerposting.tumblr.com


	8. "I know"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer and Catra break the news to Bow, which goes surprisingly well at first. Adora, on the other hand...

Catra silently finished her meal, a track of thoughts being raced in her brain with Adora at the wheel. How could she have found out between two days ago and now? Especially given that her and Glimmer weren’t exactly on the most wonderful terms yesterday. It was hard to decide what to do, since Glimmer insisted that she be the one to tell both Adora and Bow about the whole thing, but there was so much more that Catra wanted Adora to hear and understand.

“Thank you, that will be all,” Glimmer spoke with poise to one of the palace’s attendants who was taking both of their plates away. She turned her head to Catra and placed her hand atop hers. “Shall we?” she asked, beginning to stand up from her seat. The feline turned with a slight grin before gently nodding, following suit as Glimmer tugged her along to walk beside her on their way out of the dining hall.

“So… what’s on the agenda today, Sparkles?” Catra asked amidst their jaunt, keeping an eye out for Adora even though it was clear she left earlier.

“Our tacticians would like to share new strategies and plans to squash any remaining Horde defect locations. Mostly in the Wastes and some quadrants of the Fright Zone, but some near Plumeria, too,” Glimmer recited, seemingly prepared for whatever was to come of her day.

“Don’t forget to count me in if things get spicy,” Catra joked as she entertained the idea of fighting with Bright Moon soldiers. 

“Hah! As if I’d leave you out if there was any _real_ fun to be had,” Glimmer responded, reminiscing the excitement of the battlefield. She began to make her way out of the dining hall with Catra short to follow but suddenly stopped in her tracks, Catra crashing into her and knocking both of them off balance in the hallway. “S-sorry!” she apologized, turning to Catra and impulsively gripping her arm. 

“Psh, don’t worry about it,” Catra said gently before she looked around to see what made Glimmer stop to begin with. It was Bow, walking toward the dining hall and awkwardly smiling at both of them. The two of them had a bit of a standoff, neither saying much of anything as they both watched him walk in their direction. Catra could hear Glimmer swallow her own spit, hearing a release of breath following it.

“I’ve got this,” Glimmer muttered, taking a deep breath and exhaling quickly as she let go of Catra to walk up to Bow. Catra sighed and prepared for the worst, staying a couple steps behind.

Bow’s approach felt swift as Glimmer’s heart began to beat loudly and quickly, scrambling to think of what to say in the moments leading up to seeing his face this morning. “Hey, Bow!” she exclaimed in her ordinary cheerful manner as their paths finally met, Bow smiling down at Glimmer with a soft wave to both her and Catra.

“Good morning! Are you feeling better today, Glimmer?” Bow asked, still thinking about how unwell she was yesterday.

“Huh? Ah! Yes, I am. I just… got some much needed sleep,” she admitted somewhat bashfully.

“I could tell! You were out like a _light_ last night.” he commented, not thinking about what saying that implied.

“Huh?” Glimmer asked, not recalling any visits during the night.

“U-uhhh, yeah!” Bow affirmed, catching onto his slip-up. “Adora said you looked _awful_ , so I assume you slept well!” he laughed somewhat uncomfortably.

Glimmer’s expression fell flat with disappointment. “Gee, thanks Adora…” she said, slipping into a bit of a chuckle reflecting on how she _did_ look terrible yesterday.

Catra glared into Bow’s soul as he glanced over at her, making sure he could feel her eyes pierce him. What he said rolled so naturally off the tongue—what did that mean?!

“Well, I’m happy you’re doing better today, just remember to take time for yourself, okay?” Bow suggested compassionately, tilting his head to itch his head as he smiled down at her.

“Thanks, Bow, I will,” Glimmer responded, stepping up to give him a quick embrace, to which he reciprocated for but a few seconds before Glimmer pulled away. Fear returned to her as she awkwardly smiled, remembering what she wanted to share. “T-there’s uh… something I should tell you, by the way,” she stuttered.

The archer nodded to signal his listening ears as his arms crossed loosely.

Glimmer felt Catra’s hand grace her back and crawl up to her shoulder, turning to her side to see Catra there right beside her, easing her tension somewhat. “Catra and I are... uhhh--!” she paused, furiously flustered as she turned to Catra, then back to Bow, who had now raised a brow. “We’re… a-a thing! We’re a thing,” she managed to finally spit out. Catra firmly facepalmed with her other hand.

“Oh!” Bow already knew what Glimmer was going to say, but he felt good to confirm it from them directly, as… awkward as it might have been. “That’s great!” he added, not sounding super enthusiastic but trying his best to sound supportive. It was conflicting to him for it to be the truth, thinking back to how Adora felt as well as reflecting on his own crush on Glimmer somewhat shattering in his own lap. 

“Really?!” Glimmer exclaimed, some anxiety lifted from Bow’s surprisingly relaxed response to it.

“Y-yeah!” he responded somewhat nervously. “I-I mean, if you like each other, then… you should be together!” Bow proclaimed, looking back and forth between her and Catra, who had been still glaring at him which wasn’t helping his nerves.

Glimmer was _so_ relieved, almost hopping with excitement as she let out some laughter. “Oh, I’m so happy you think so!” she passionately said before it dawned on her that she _really_ had to make it to that tactics meeting. “Ah! The meeting! We’ll talk more later,” she said to Bow. Glimmer turned to Catra and pulled her face down to her level and gave her a quick but firm kiss on the cheek. “See you, Kitten,” she said tenderly before vanishing in a cloud of sparkles. _Fwsh!_

Then it was just Bow and Catra, and the tension was debilitatingly thick. They sort of just stood at odds with each other for a few moments, and while Catra was feeling somewhat warm from the kiss, it wasn’t long until she bluntly spoke. “How did you know?!” she grunted.

Bow’s skin crawled, wishing he didn’t have to answer that. “I, uhhh… Adora told me!” he blurted out, which technically wasn’t wrong. 

Catra’s eyes widened for a spell before she took a threatening step toward Bow. “W-well, how did _Adora_ figure it out then?” she rebutted, keeping the pressure so that Bow didn’t weasel out of any of her questions.

“H-hey! How should I know?!” Bow retaliated, raising his voice uncharacteristically and throwing Catra off somewhat.

“You said… that she was out like a light. Why say _that_ , specifically?!” she continued to interrogate thoroughly, recalling how out of place it sounded in his conversation with Glimmer.

Bow sighed, the jig was up. He was a window and Catra punched through it. “Look, Adora and I went to check on Glimmer last night because we were worried, and… we saw you with her,” he solemnly admitted, avoiding eye contact as much as he could.

Catra’s lips tightened as she began to center herself again, exhaling slowly as she slid her hands into her pockets before leaning up against the wall of the hallway. If that’s _true_ , that’s a very kind gesture of them not to be unappreciated. She was _also_ worried about Glimmer yesterday, which is how they ended up like that to begin with. 

“Sorry, Bow, I didn’t mean to yell, I’m… working on my temper,” she apologized, getting upset with herself for raising her voice again in such a short time since the last time. 

“It’s alright, I get it. I… should have been honest from the start.” Bow shared, propping himself against the wall as well as the two of them looked in tandem towards the windows on the opposite side. 

Catra let out a hearty chuckle, thinking that if Glimmer did exactly that, none of this would be happening. “I hear ya’, dude.”

There was another period of silence as they stood there processing each other’s words. Catra knew why _Adora_ knew and her anxiety quelled somewhat now that she has some context she can work with and understand. They care about Glimmer _so_ much and it seems incredibly obvious in hindsight that they’d do something so kind for her. To look out for her and see her well. It was enviable in a way Catra couldn’t articulate. 

“I should get in there and get some breakfast before they take the cinnamon rolls away,” Bow finally said, propelling off the wall to get moving again.

“Ugh, they’re _so_ good,” Catra mentioned, wishing Glimmer had grabbed her one this morning. She stood up straight as well, beginning to think of what she should do for the day now that Glimmer was busy being queen or whatever.

“Hey, don’t be a stranger, okay?” Bow remarked, playfully tapping Catra on the shoulder as he walked by. “You’re part of the best friends squad now, remember that!”

Catra shot a wide smile to Bow. “Yup, you’re stuck with me, arrow boy!” she teased before she reached out to grab his arm, Bow turning around to look at her again. “And… thanks. For not being mad at her.”

Her saying that made Bow’s heart happy, feeling Catra’s genuine compassion first-hand. He nodded, and Catra let him go. “See ya, Catra.”

—

Glimmer was _burnt_ from her meeting, lasting upward of six hours as they covered the multiple facets of Bright Moon’s plans to continue its liberation of Etheria. It wasn’t just a matter of who went where, but how they went there, how _many_ went there, and how much food they’d need, and and and! It just seemed to go on for way too long, but it was important for her to be there and be in the know. Nothing was cleared without her supervision, which gave her a sense of comfort that she had things under control. 

She had such little time to think throughout the day, and now that she was done, she wasn’t really sure what to do. Part of her wanted to touch base via telecommunications with the other princess’ in their kingdoms because she was missing them and their regular company, but it sounded like too much work and too much _like_ work that she decided to hold off. 

Since she didn’t stand all day, lucky enough to sit down for the majority of her meeting, she didn’t mind the long walk through the palace to get to her room. Now that she had some time to herself, she couldn’t help but start thinking of Catra again, wondering where she was and what she was up to. Maybe she was already waiting in her room for her, thinking about how nice it would be to snuggle right now and talk about her day with her.

She came up on Adora’s room, who had her door propped open somewhat. Glimmer couldn’t help but peek inside to find her friend stripped down to gymwear, performing some exercises with some weights in a clearing on her floor. Maybe now was as good a time as ever to break it to Adora, too. She went ahead and knocked gently to alert her of her presence, feeling the sudden wave of warmth exude from the room.

“Glimmer!” Adora said as she glanced over, finishing one more full lift before putting down her weights. She took a second to catch her breath before giving a small wave as Glimmer entered her room.

“Hey Adora! … Geez, it’s _warm_ in here,” Glimmer remarked, shutting the door behind her before teleporting over to Adora’s bed. She took her crown off and shook her hair around to aerate it before crashing her back down against the mattress.

“Yeah… I uhhh may have broken the lock on the window?... Aaand the door to the balcony,” Adora embarrassingly admitted with a light chuckle, beginning to clean up her equipment. 

“ _Both_ of them Adora?! Ugh, you’re hopeless,” she remarked, unable to contain a bit of playful laughter. “I’ll have someone come fix them for you.”

“Thanks, Glims. You seem a lot better now!” Adora asked, pulling her desk’s stool out to sit on to face Glimmer.

“Yeah I just… _really_ needed some sleep,” Glimmer answered, a twinge of guilt in her voice, a rapid version of the whole Catra situation playing in her head as she said it. 

“Well, I’m happy you’re feeling better! I haven’t seen you so unwell since you were glitched,” Adora said, relieved to see her friend well.

Glimmer winced at the memory of being glitched, recalling the sheer physical pain from that. “Yeah… I was um… not in a good place yesterday,” she trailed off, taking slow breaths as she glared up at Adora’s ceiling. She thought about what Adora said yesterday, wanting to take her up on the invitation to share the news about her and Catra. “Hey, remember how you said I could tell you anything?” Glimmer asked.

Adora braced for what she suspected Glimmer might say, having somehow forgotten about what she had walked in on yesterday night. “Mmhm?” she answered hesitantly.

“I… want to tell you something,” Glimmer started, sitting up from her laying down position and sliding her legs off the edge of the mattress so that she could face Adora before continuing. “Catra and I are… we’re together!” This time she said it with confidence, thinking that Adora would be happy for her if Bow was.

Adora let out a wicked sigh as her lips bunched up to one side of her cheek, beginning to nod slowly. “I know.”

 _What?_ She knew? How did she know? Did Catra tell her already? Or Bow?

“Did… someone tell you already?” Glimmer asked after a pause.

“No, I… saw it myself. I came to your room last night and saw her cuddled up on you—it was obvious at that point,” Adora said fully, sounding somewhat agitated the more she thought about Catra who she still hasn’t confronted yet.

Glimmer was shocked and somewhat annoyed that Adora didn’t say anything about it until _after_ she had the courage to tell her. “Huh...?” she let out, some part of her not believing her.

“I didn’t want to say anything about it because it… made me really upset, and I didn’t want it to be true!” Adora said raising her volume. “So… I kept telling myself I didn’t see it!” she added, beginning to feel emotional about Catra.

“U-upset?! Why?” Glimmer stammered, clenching her fists against Adora’s sheets, not understanding and getting increasingly frustrated at Adora.

“B-because! Catra’s…” Adora stopped as she could feel herself beginning to cry, rubbing her eyes before finding the breath to continue. “I… I just don’t understand!”

Adora’s tears made Glimmer feel a certain way inside, trying to understand why she was upset but only getting more upset herself, unable to think clearly from getting a response she didn’t expect. “Understand _what?!”_ Glimmer shouted somewhat irrationally.

“I _love_ her, Glimmer!” Adora retorted, raising her volume even louder to match. “And she loves _me!”_ she concluded, pounding her own chest in tandem with her words before continuing in a softer tone. “So… why? What happened?” she sniffled.

Glimmer’s head began to hurt from the yelling and all of this new information, suddenly having so many questions. “I don’t… what are you _talking_ about?!” she asked, but was interrupted by a knock on the door, a sound that completely shut both of them up.

_Bang bang bang!_

“Adora, are you there?!” they heard, as if the devil heard them calling. It was Catra.

Adora sat there petrified, her breathing completely erratic and out of control as her hand clutched the side of the desk with an unnerving amount of force. She tried to push herself up from the stool she sat on, but crashed to her knees as she started grasping for air, her other hand clutching her chest.

Glimmer flicked the switch from anger to concern as she leapt into action, teleporting over to her friend. “A-adora! Adora!” she cried out, grabbing her by her shoulders as she sat her knees next to her, jostling her. “Adora, breathe!”

The door swung open, Catra overhearing what was going on wanting to rush in to see what was happening. “Adora!” she yelled, rushing down in front of her and grabbing her hand.

Adora went from choking on nothing to desperate gasps for air, filling her lungs to the point of forcing a cough, letting out several coughing fits before gasping in air again and repeating. When she found a somewhat bearable breathing pattern, her grasp on Catra’s hand intensified tenfold, her other hand balled up into a fist held by Glimmer’s and all she could do was weep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no notes on this one! thank you for enjoying Losing Sleep!
> 
> http://glimmerposting.tumblr.com


	9. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a frantic episode, Adora and Catra are able to come to terms with the truth. Glimmer is unable to resist Catra for much longer.

The air was deafeningly quiet for several minutes. Glimmer and Catra shared the same gaze of concern for their friend. They helped her up onto her feet with one arm each and guided her to lay down on her bed, each of them on one of her sides as they did their best to help Adora calm down from her sudden attack. 

Adora’s head slowly began to clear, the pulsing headache beginning to dissipate and her breathing returning as close to normal as she could manage. Her emotions combined with her workout pushing her body lead to something that could only be described as panic as her body laid in discomfort, unable to reign in any clear thoughts.

Glimmer’s hand held Adora’s atop her abdomen, spinning delicate circles over Adora’s hand with her thumb, doing what she could to soothe her. She had completely let go of any anger she had, shooting herself in the foot for not being able to keep her temper in check and partially blaming herself for this. 

“Catra…” Adora abruptly said, still short of breath but able to formulate her thoughts again now that she’s had time to recover.

“What, Adora?” Catra returned from beside her. She wasn’t as intimately close as Glimmer was, sitting cross-legged a few inches away from them, but gave Adora her undivided attention upon hearing her name.

Adora sighed, resting her eyes for a moment before opening them again and turning to Catra and shaking her head. “Why? You lied to me… _Why?!_ ” she asked with an indescribable pain in her voice.

“Adora, I didn’t--” Catra was quickly cut off with a sharp increase in volume from Adora.

“Was it all some sort of... _sick_ joke?!” Adora continued as her frustration began to come back.

“It wasn’t, I just…” Catra struggled, meeting a dead end in her head.

“Tell me! Give me the truth!” Adora demanded, beginning to fidget again between the two of them.

“Adora… please,” Glimmer interjected, but it was fruitless.

“No, Glimmer! I _need_ to hear it from her mouth.” Adora said, calmer, but not by much. 

She took a few seconds to think of what to say. Catra knew what she wanted to say—it was the reason she found herself coming to Adora’s room to _begin_ with—but didn’t know how to break into what she wanted to share.

“Well?!” Adora exclaimed.

“Look, Adora…” she started, sharply exhaling. “What I said to you… a-at the Heart of Etheria,” Catra continued, stuttering as she struggled to build the sentence ahead. 

Glimmer’s interest had been piqued. Adora had shared some of what happened down there, but not everything. The most striking thing she remembers being told was that Catra kissed her, and it was beginning to make sense. No _wonder_ Adora felt so betrayed. There were some thoughts of… confusion floating around in _Glimmer’s_ head now, remembering that this was only _weeks_ ago. Without overanalyzing too much, Glimmer waited to hear what Catra had to say instead of letting assumptions run wild.

“I… meant it. I did. I _do_ love you, Adora. And… I _always_ will,” Catra admitted with a level of sincerity Glimmer had never imagined leaving her lips. She looked to Glimmer, whose eyes were keen towards her as she turned back to Adora and continued to speak. “It’s just… for so long, that love and adoration was what drove me to keep fighting, to keep _trying_ to win you back to the Horde. I wanted you and your love _so_ badly, Adora…” she trailed off, beginning to rub one of her eyes as they began to water.

Adora was eagerly waiting to hear the rest, finally calming herself to give Catra the space to take her time as this she finally recognized that her impatience wasn’t going to help anyone.

“I was so… blinded by wanting to fix my mistakes that I just _continued_ to believe that you were what I was doing it all for without questioning it,” Catra stated with conviction. “But… when I was in that cell on Horde Prime’s flagship, Glimmer… she took the time to care for me against all odds, and show me what love _really_ felt like, whether she knew so or not.”

Glimmer couldn’t help but begin to feel her lips quiver with emotions as she thought so fondly to the months they spent up in space together. “C-catra…”

“When we were at the heart, Adora… I was so scared I was going to lose you, that _we_ were going to lose you,” she continued, more tears welling up under her eyes as she reached her claws out to grace Adora’s cheek. “I would have never forgiven myself if I didn’t let my feelings go in that moment, but…” Catra trailed off again, sniffling between breaths. 

Adora was beginning to see the big picture as Catra’s confession neared its end. She couldn’t hold back the subtle tears she was letting out, but it didn’t stop her from keeping her eyes set on Catra’s to listen to her fully.

“I realized… everything I _thought_ I felt, and... wanted… I felt from _her_ ,” she gestured with her face to Glimmer and back. “I was constantly losing sleep over not being with her at night after she had taken such good care of me.”

Catra took a hold of Adora’s other hand with both of her own, slowly reeling in and releasing an exasperated sigh before saying her final piece. “I _love_ her, Adora. But that doesn’t mean I don’t also love you and our bond.” 

It felt like Adora’s dreams crumbled beneath her feet, and she was falling, clouds of debris muddying the air around her. There was nothing she could do or say that would change what was just said to her, and coming to terms with it would be difficult, but… that was all she _could_ do. Was… her love for Catra a self-fabricated belief to follow as well? During her fights against the horde, she would be completely distracted any time Catra was in the picture, stuck in her head about memories of them as children. She wanted that back so badly that she fought _extra_ hard, just wanting her friend to stay by her side. Adora didn’t realize it until now, but… she accomplished that. Catra was right there, and there wasn’t any more needing to win her back. She wasn’t going anywhere. 

While it may take several days, weeks, months, or… who knows how long, Adora knew in the back of her mind that this was okay, and that these feelings of rejection would pass. She _truly_ loved Catra, but in the same vein, loved Glimmer, and Bow, too. Her _family_. Nothing would ever truly get in the way of that love, and in that moment, the water became clear.

Adora slowly began to nod as the two soulfully looked into each other’s eyes, then began pulling herself up toward Catra and wrapping her arms around her. Catra pulled her close as they shared this moment, one of her claws gently moving up and down against Adora’s back. They held each other in that moment for as long as they needed before Adora finally spoke up. 

“I… want you to be happy, Catra. I’ve wanted that for _so_ long… how could I possibly deny you of that happiness?” she proclaimed, pulling away as now _her_ fingertips found their way to Catra’s cheek, to which she nuzzled right into Adora’s palm.

Their tender moment felt like it lasted ages, but finally Adora turned her focus to Glimmer, shifting herself back from where she had sat up to comfortably talk to both of them at once. “And I want _you_ to be happy, too,” she relayed to her queen, not wanting her to feel as if she wasn’t a part of this. "I will just... need some time, okay?" she concluded, this time speaking to both of them.

Glimmer couldn’t figure out any words to say, simply pushing herself forward for a hug of her own. “I love you, Adora—please never forget that,” she said as she clung to her dear friend. 

“I could never,” Adora said cheerfully in response, beginning to feel somewhat fatigued from the overload of emotions combined with the heat of her room. 

When Glimmer pulled away, Adora let herself fall back against her pillows as a yawn crept up from her face and into the world. Its contagiousness caused Catra to yawn as well, her hairs—as usual—perpendicular from her body for a split second as her tail spasmed. The other girls couldn’t resist giggling as a suddenly bashful Catra veered her eyes away from them. The three of them shared some friendly teasing amongst them before Glimmer and Catra had fully gotten up, ready to let Adora have some space after such an emotionally taxing discussion. They all said their goodbyes, and Catra held out her hand to Glimmer, who happily reached out to grab a hold of it. _Fwsh!_

Adora sighed as she let her eyelids shut, drifting into thoughts of relief. She knew that it would take time, but she was ready to take that time with her head held high.

—

Catra finally felt like she was getting the hang of being teleported, not feeling disoriented if she knew it was coming. They were in the entrance of Glimmer’s room, where night had already fallen, only the shimmer of the stars above and Bright Moon’s runestone illuminating the room. 

The two of them let out a sigh in unison, frankly somewhat worn out by such an emotionally intensive encounter. Glimmer was still thinking about all the nice things Catra spilled about her and their time in captivity, just standing there wanting to feel that love all for herself in that moment while adrenaline was still high.

The feline could feel Glimmer’s hand slip from her grasp as she could feel her fingertips graze her forearm. Glimmer stepped in front of her, turning to face her as her other hand reached up to Catra’s shoulder as her fingers reached her other one. _Thud._

The queen had pinned Catra—who is still several inches taller even _with_ her heels on—up against the back of her bedroom door. Her breathing was heavy as she continued to push her body forward against Catra’s, feeling their bodies collide in a way she had never sought to feel before until now. “ _Catra…_ ” she whispered aggressively as her breathing drew hot on Catra’s face, unable to reel herself back before shoving her lips against hers. 

Catra showed no resistance, her heart beating at an alarming speed as she released a moan against Glimmer’s kiss. Something stirred in Catra that she’d been feeling for days on end, a lust that she just hadn’t been able to sate all bubbling to the surface as Glimmer’s tender lips smothered hers. She couldn’t help but succumb to her as her own tongue began to brandish against those pillowy lips, welcoming in Glimmer’s own as they sloppily slid past each other’s teeth, both of them getting their first _real_ taste of each other. 

Glimmer elicited a bellowing moan that resonated in her throat, clawing its way out as she pressed her sensual sounds against Catra, pulling away just for a moment to catch her breath and look at the woman she loved to share her desperation. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop,” she said in rapid succession before diving in for another round.

The feline mistress pulled Glimmer against her _hard_ by her back and shoulders, feeling all of her weight against her thin body as _she_ released a guttural, wet moan into their kiss. Then, Catra’s claw shot up to grab onto Glimmer’s hair, gently pulling her away from her face. “I wouldn’t _dare_ try,” she challenged, pushing the queen back in for more. She began to let her other hand wander its way down to the small of her back. The closer down her body she got, the more sensitive Glimmer’s reaction was, delivering tiny coos of desperation the more Catra touched her. 

Wanting to indulge her lover to such sensations as well, one of Glimmer’s hands slunk down from Catra’s shoulders, firmly dragging her fingers against the top of her chest down to her breast, feeling Catra jolt with a gasp as she began to gently gyrate her fingertips in circles around the apex of her chest. The queen broke from their lips, beginning to trail her kisses down her soft cheeks, weaving in a question of reassurance between breaths. “Is this… is this okay?”

Catra was in absolute bliss, unable to formulate a response right away thanks to how Glimmer was making her body feel, but there was still a certain degree of tension in the back of her mind that kept jolting forward every few seconds. “I-I think so,” she spit out, navigating Glimmer’s kisses to her neck with the claw on the back of her head. 

That wasn’t enough. Glimmer knew that there was likely still a lot on Catra’s mind, and didn’t want to impose on that mental space before she got completely carried away with her own rampant desire for Catra. She pulled her lips away and locked eyes with her lover, her touch returning to Catra’s shoulders. “It’s okay if it isn’t, love,” she admitted, trying to get a read on what Catra was thinking from the way she looked back at her.

She didn’t _know._ On one hand, Glimmer’s touch was so insatiably addicting and she was finally being subjected to it on a more intimate level that she found an obsession with, but on the other she couldn’t stop thinking about her conversation with Adora, still uneasy about how it all went. “I-I don’t know, babe… I want to, but--,” Glimmer’s finger pressed against Catra’s wet lips. 

She said nothing, simply continuing to serenade Catra with the silent song of her elated smile, to which Catra couldn’t resist returning in full. 

“Tomorrow, though…” Catra said suggestively, furrowing her brows with interest to satisfy that unidentifiable feeling of need. 

Glimmer giggled, nodded, and responded. “It’s a date!” she exclaimed, her fingertips drifting up to her cheek before eventually pulling her hand and body away. While her body moved, her gaze remained until she finally turned around to go fetch the two of them some sleepwear. 

Catra went ahead and, in an uncharacteristic turn of events… made the bed for them?! It was such a mess leftover from the morning, and the feline—quite terribly, admittedly—arranged the pillows and blankets before Glimmer had walked up behind her with a set of fresh pajamas. She was of course already dressed and ready to sleep, comfy in what seemed to be a single-piece full body silk robe. Catra stood up to receive them, giving Glimmer a quick once over as the queen quaintly smiled at Catra’s work.

Glimmer crawled into bed, making some comfort adjustments as Catra got changed before slipping underneath the covers, lying in wait as she couldn’t resist watching Catra. She had already switched into the shorts she gave her, but her top was completely exposed and Glimmer was unable to stop staring at Catra’s sharp, defined shoulders, letting her eyes feast on such a gorgeous sight. 

Just as Catra wiggled into her shirt, she thought of Adora again and some of the things she said to Catra. She wondered if Adora was the only one with unrequited love, and tossed a look of interest for answers to Glimmer. “Hey… what about Bow?” she asked, her tone completely switched from playful to serious as she began getting up onto the bed herself to join her queen.

She had to take a few moments to think about it, quickly recalling their short conversation earlier in the morning. Glimmer hadn’t seen him since—not that she would have reason to—and hadn’t thought about him all day. She left him under the impression that he was happy for her, but was that the full truth? “What _about_ Bow?” Glimmer fired back, wanting to understand what Catra was actually asking.

The feline got comfortable against the pillow next to Glimmer’s, beginning to shimmy herself over and wrapping a leg and arm around Glimmer as she began to ease into a resting position before responding. “I mean… didn’t you want to talk to him more about it?” she asked her. 

“Well, _maybe_. I don’t know what else there is to say to him,” Glimmer said with confidence. 

“If you say so,” Catra concluded, not feeling the need to press it further as she could feel her consciousness begin to slip. 

Glimmer contemplated whether or not she was actually right. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed that Bow was just being nice, because that’s just how Bow _is_. Perhaps it would be wise to take some time tomorrow to ask him how it made him feel, obviously not wanting him to feel hurt if she could help it. 

“Maybe I will talk to him,” Glimmer stated after some time, Catra coming back to some semblance of awareness to give her some grunts of affirmation. The queen began to doze off, not spending too much time dwelling on it, deciding it would be best to think about with more intent in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had sooo much fun writing this one. 
> 
> Only one more chapter left (maaaybe two!) before this story is officially concluded, thanks so much for your continued interest and kind words throughout the week, this has been such a treat to share with everyone. :)
> 
> (and YES I will be writing a full smut scene... but probably publishing separately under the explicit tag... so stay excited, it's coming!!!)
> 
> P.S. Thoughts on my chapter lengths? I like to write concisely, but... I am interested if any of you folks were hoping for certain scenes to be drawn out longer! let me know in a comment!


	10. Hey, Dads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer holds an assembly, and Adora and Catra wonder why Bow was suspiciously absent. The trio split up to find him.

The day was young but accelerating quickly for the queen. She had called for an assembly of her court to brief them on the tactics meeting she had held the previous day, and forgot all about it until Catra reminded her _minutes_ before it started. While she didn’t feel mentally unprepared, she was kicking herself for not taking more care in getting ready. She told Catra to stay as long as she wanted, but Catra herself insisted that she join her audience. Some of their other friends—Perfuma, Scorpia and Huntara—were to be there as well to help carry out logistical tasks pertaining to how Bright Moon was going to assist their lands. Glimmer of course couldn’t say no to Catra being there, but joked that she would only distract her, to which Catra used as fuel to tease her on the whole walk there.

Catra followed behind Glimmer as far as she could before she had to get into position to present herself as queen, the two of them exchanging a tender kiss as Catra wished her luck before finding her way to the audience chambers. The feline slunk into the standing area as the crowd of officials, lieutenants and kingdom representatives slowly filtered in preparing for the assembly to begin. She noticed Adora was standing in wait as well near the front and decided to walk up and nudge her on the shoulder to welcome herself. 

“Oh, Catra!” Adora said somewhat shocked to see her. “I didn’t think you’d care about this sort of stuff.”

“And what, not put my military expertise to use?” Catra retorted, thinking the sentiment from Adora to be… well, stupid, frankly put.

“Is that what you want to call it?” Adora laughed, returning a playful nudge to Catra, who grunted in response. 

“Hey! I just like to stay informed. Nobody tells me anything here,” Catra explained, crossing her arms as the room settled itself. Glimmer had stepped out onto the podium’s center and began to deliver her royal welcomes and introductions before carrying on with her announcements.

The queen procedurally went through the list of each of the biomes and corresponding locations that still had Horde defects inhabiting them and where, entailing their succinct plans of attack to rout and liberate them. It was also explained what would follow to the affected areas surrounding such locations and fallback plans for failure. She spoke concisely at a speed that everyone present could follow along with, occasionally using her sorcery to project an astral map above the court with lights indicating any points of interest. It was quite a spectacle that Catra had never quite seen before, of course completely mesmerized by this professional side of Glimmer. 

“Hey, have you seen Bow today?” Adora whispered, trying to look over the heads of some of the other guests to spot him, recalling that he mentioned his intention to be in attendance.

“No, why would I?” Catra asked somewhat defensively, not feeling responsible for him.

“I don’t know, you just might have!” Adora exclaimed as her whisper intensified. “He said he would be here, I wonder if something came up.”

Catra shrugged as the two of them exchanged looks of wonder before tuning back into Glimmer’s presentation. It didn’t quite last as long as Catra thought it might have, anticipating several hours given how much time Glimmer spends on these things on average, but it wrapped up neatly in just under an hour. Folks were beginning to dismiss themselves as the queen made her exit, to which Catra and Adora decided to follow. 

“Hey, nice work!” Adora commended, her hands on her hips as Glimmer turned to face them, her expression shifting into a bashful one. 

“Thanks, I’m just glad it’s over,” Glimmer admitted, adjusting her crown and looking to her friends. “Bow not with you?” she asked, looking behind both of the other girls.

“Nope, I was hoping you’d know, actually,” Adora stated, slipping her hands into her pockets as she tried to think of possibilities as to where he would be. It was a little out of character, given how much Bow tried to involve himself in things like this, always seeming like an extension of Glimmer’s influence over the resistance of Bright Moon (though perhaps silly to call it that anymore, given the nonexistant state of the war.) 

“Hmm, I haven’t seen him today. I just assumed he was here, I don’t really see _anyone_ specific when I’m out there,” Glimmer admitted, lifting her fingers to her chin as she contemplated where he would be instead.

Catra remained silent not having much to contribute, but joined them in trying to brainstorm potential places in case they wanted to look for him. Her thoughts, radical as usual, immediately jumped to instances of danger but they subsided when she thought about how ridiculous and unlikely any of them felt. “Well, maybe we should look for him?” she suggested after thinking trivially.

Adora nodded. “Yeah, it just doesn’t seem like something he’d _want_ to miss,” she added.

“Why don’t we split up then and meet in the courtyard before lunch?” Glimmer asked, not actually having a ton on her plate today. In fact, she didn’t have _anything_ on her plate this morning and was already thinking towards lunch from skipping breakfast.

“Sure. I want to check up on Melog today anyway, so I’ll look on the outskirts of the city,” Catra announced. The queen nodded in agreement, looking to Adora to see if she had anywhere in mind.

“I could stay and look around the courtyard and gardens?” Adora shrugged, not actually certain he would be there, but that it was at least worth a shot. 

“Great! I’ll check the palace, he might just be in his room after all,” Glimmer chuckled. Once the three of them were in agreement, they took the leave in opposite directions, Glimmer deciding to teleport a few steps into her walk. 

—

_Dads,_

_Hey! It’s Bow! I hope you’re both well._

_I wanted to touch base on how I’ve been doing. I told you before that Adora took Entrapta and I up to space, and we’re back now! It was super fun, I can’t wait to tell you about it. I’m coming home soon, because …_

Bow tapped his pencil against his desk as he pressed his cheek against his fist, glaring down at the letter he’d begun writing, wracking his brain for the right way to explain why he was going to see them soon. He had discarded a few iterations of the letter already, thinking they were too strangely worded for what he wanted to tell them. 

Now that Etheria had finally found its rhythm of peace, Bow could feel his use to the kingdom of Bright Moon dwindling as his gadgets began to collect dust in his room. When he was visiting the nearby planets with Adora and Entrapta, they pretty much handled everything themselves with Adora in command and Entrapta handling everything travel and logistics-related. It felt like he was just along for the ride, wanting to be back at home the whole few weeks they were away. It didn’t help that the only thing he looked forward to in Bright Moon was suddenly out of his reach. Glimmer.

The two of them had spent years developing such a tight bond together, having been best friends for as long as he could remember. During the final battles for Etheria, Glimmer told him that she loved him in such a way that felt like more than friends, but suddenly somebody else had taken that spot from him. Did he not reciprocate fast enough for Glimmer to understand his feelings for her? And of _course_ it had to be _Catra_ of all people. While Bow had truly come around on trusting her, there was always a constant back burner thought of her having ulterior motives. Is it just some ploy for Catra to gain power in Bright Moon and dismantle it from the inside? It felt so awful to think about, but he couldn’t help dwindling into those negative thoughts at times. It’s exhausting being the optimist, after all.

Bow decided that he would go home to his parents, now that the war is over and the rebellion is no more. He wasn’t sure what exactly it would entail, but with all the resources at his fingertips and the undying support of his fathers, Bow was sure he would think of something. And it’s not like he’d never come visit Bright Moon to spend time with his friends, either, he thought. It was just a matter of breaking the news he so painfully didn’t want to admit. He _told_ his Dads how much he wanted to stay here to be with Glimmer and help build up Bright Moon with her, so for that to not happen any more obviously would come as a shock to them.

_Bang bang bang!_

The sudden sound of his door shattered the peace as Bow startled, dropping his pencil and flinging his head back a few inches. He quickly turned to the door and then back to his desk, flipping the letter over as he stood up from his seat. “Coming!” he announced, quickly making his way to welcome whatever guests he may receive. He swung the door open inward, a chipper smile on his face as he looked down and saw the queen looking right up at him.

“Hey, Bow!” Glimmer exclaimed with relief. She had checked other potential rooms he might have been in first, including but not limited to the dining hall, kitchen, and armory where he would sometimes be working on mechanical projects.

“Oh, hey, Glimmer,” he responded, almost disappointed to see her but continued to open the door to welcome her inside. The queen stepped inside and Bow shut the door behind them. Every one of his curtains were pushed open, letting in tons of natural light to the point where they might as well have been outside, each of his windows cracked open to let in fresh air.

“How are you? I didn’t see you at the assembly today,” Glimmer immediately mentioned, it being the whole reason she was here. She took several steps to the side of Bow’s desk, stirring a bit of panic in him, but only to prop herself and her elbows against one of the windowsills as she admired the eastern cliffs of Bright Moon.

“Yeah, I overslept by accident!” Bow lied, an uncertain laughter to follow as he walked over to the desk, wanting to hide his note even though it was already flipped over. 

Glimmer laughed as she turned herself around, a hand still touching the window’s edge as she looked back to him. “You? Oversleeping? Please!” she joked. “You never miss stuff like that, what’s up?” she asked.

“Oh, you know,” Bow began, not really sure of what to say since he hadn’t really planned to tell Glimmer of his plans so soon. “Just… planning some stuff!”

“Like what? _More_ new arrows?” Glimmer said in jest as she looked over to his desk, a pile of crumpled letters and a pencil atop a piece of parchment.

“No, I was actually uh… sketching! Sketching some ideas for like a… prototype of a thing?” Bow stuttered, trying to conceal what he was doing, but not paying attention to where Glimmer’s eyes were fixed.

“Cool, let me look at it!” she demanded with intrigue, reaching for one of the crumpled pieces of paper assuming that it was one of them.

“N-no!” Bow shouted, darting forward to grab it from her, but the queen pulled her hand away with it still clutched in her fist, stopping Bow in his tracks. “I-it’s just not ready! Those are all just ideas that wouldn’t work.”

“As your _queen_ I will be the judge of that,” she teased with a smirk, beginning to unfurl it until Bow’s hand stopped her again. 

He sighed as his fingers gripped both Glimmer’s hand and the crumpled letter. “Glimmer, it’s… I’m sorry, it’s not... what I said it was,” he admitted, guilty about trying to deceive her, but more importantly didn’t want her to read that _she_ was one of the reasons he was going to leave.

“Huh?” she blurted out, letting him take it from her as she began to feel quite confused. “What is it then?” she asked curiously as she looked to the other crumpled up papers, able to make out obscured letters crammed on its surface only stirring the confusion further.

“I was… writing to my Dads,” Bow started. “That I was umm… going to come home soon?” he concluded as he scratched the back of his neck.

Glimmer didn’t know what to make of what he just said, did she hear him right? Going home? That couldn’t possibly be what he said. Why would he go home, for what reason would he want to leave Bright Moon? “Like, to visit them?” she asked, smiling at the kind gesture of him wanting to see his family after being in space for so long.

“Something like that,” Bow wrung out, not wanting to _completely_ admit the truth just yet. “There’s not a lot left for me to do here now that the war is over,” he began to explain, avoiding the topic of Glimmer and Catra.

He really meant it? Glimmer was just so bewildered at what she was hearing. Her best friend suddenly wanted to move away without telling her? What was he going to do instead? She was so convinced that he was still trying to pull a fast one and continued to respond as if he was only going to be gone for a little while. “Well, you’ll still come back after you stay with them for a bit, right?” she asked, her playful demeanor diminishing somewhat.

“Well… I would probably come visit, yeah!” Bow announced, thinking ahead to when he’d want to stop by and check in in the future. This was going surprisingly well, expecting a lot more resistance from Glimmer, but wasn’t fully aware of what was yet to come from this discussion.

“Y-you mean it? You’re really leaving?” Glimmer said, a spike of sadness fusing into her words as her eyebrows angled high on her face. 

Bow paused, beginning to see the disappointment creep up on him from Glimmer. “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it ever since I got back from my time on the ship, actually! Adora and Entrapta kind of--” he started explaining, but was cut off by a flustered Glimmer.

“A-and you didn’t think to talk to me about it? Or even _tell_ me?” she struck back, mindlessly balling her fists as she began to feel upset.

“H-hey, I _was_ going to tell you, I just never found the time since you’ve been so busy with work and Catra,” he said, instantly wishing he didn’t say Catra’s name, but it was just at the forefront of his mind that it just slipped out.

Of _course_ it was about Catra! Why wouldn’t it be?! Glimmer huffed and sharply turned her head away from Bow feeling angry at herself for not thinking about it sooner. She hadn’t been spending much time with Bow and it’s already been _days_ since he got back. “S-so?! It doesn’t mean I don’t want you _here_ , Bow!” she exclaimed. “You said you were happy for me,” she continued, softer in tone as her tone balanced between anger and hurt.

“Glimmer, I _am_ happy for you,” Bow said sternly. “It’s a lot more complicated than you think.” 

The queen was standing there antsy as she was trying to comprehend what she was hearing, eventually turning her gaze away from Bow and out to the window again, swallowing her spit as she tried to maintain her composure. She held back from speaking further to hear him out.

“Part of why I didn’t leave in the first place was because I wanted to stay with _you_ ,” he admitted outright, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore after he ran out of hiding places. “I’m happy for you because I love you, Glimmer. _So_ much.”

She couldn’t help but feel flustered from his sentiment, clenching her teeth as she began to blush. There was a time where the feeling was mutual, but almost in the same vein as Catra’s, the words she spoke to him on the final day of the war were of complete uncertainty if she’d ever see him again. It’s not as though her love for him was untrue, it just was longer the same as it was. She felt embarrassed that she didn’t recognize Bow’s feelings earlier.

“Bow, I _love_ you,” she passionately responded, turning her face to lock eyes. “I’m just… so sorry it’s not the way you want me to…” she admitted somewhat awkwardly with a dissonance in her voice, a silence soon to follow. The only sounds were the breeze outside to comfort them. Part of Glimmer began to choke up, thinking that she really _did_ have to say goodbye, but finally Bow offered some words of comfort.

“Hey… it’s alright,” he softly said, closing the distance and coming up to Glimmer, gently taking hold of her shoulder. “You’ll always be my best friend, that could _never_ change,” he confidently shared. 

Glimmer collided against Bow’s chest and embraced him, unable to refrain from feeling any more emotional. “Please don’t go… I don’t want you to leave,” Glimmer muffledly said, looking up to Bow with thin stripes of water against her cheeks.

Bow’s hands met against Glimmer’s back as he let her hug him, matching her gaze up at him before letting a gentle sigh out, a light chuckle to follow. “I was secretly hoping you’d convince me not to leave,” he said, tightening his embrace against her. They stayed in that position for a minute, both coming out of this exchange with a better understanding. "How else do I make sure Catra doesn't try to kill you?" he said in jest. 

The queen pulled herself off of him as she heartily laughed, wiped her face and took a deep breath to center herself again before remembering the others. “Speaking of Catra, her and Adora are also looking for you—we were going to meet for lunch, do you… want to come? … Best friends squad style?” she giggled as she extended her hand to him.

Bow nodded with a widening grin hearing her say that. “Best friends squad style!” he exclaimed, firmly taking hold of Glimmer’s hand, promptly vanishing into a poof of purple sparkles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no commentary on this chapter, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> next chapter will be the final chapter! thank you so much for your continued love for this story. <3


	11. Best Friends Squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally understanding Bow's true feelings, the best friends squad was reunited for the first time since the end of Horde Prime, and the day couldn't be more beautiful.

_Fwsh!_

Glimmer had taken Bow to the courtyard with her, thinking that it would be her best bet to find the others. When they arrived, Glimmer lifted her head to try and locate her friends. The courtyard was surprisingly busy, with the visitors from other kingdoms mulling about in excess throughout the palace. While she couldn’t spot them right away, she heard their familiar voices call out her name and turned to see their brisk approach, the crew now together at last.

“Hey, you found him!” Catra said, sounding relieved as she tossed her claws back behind her head.

“We were hoping you would when we didn’t have any luck,” Adora chimed in, smiling at Bow’s return. 

Bow blushed as he felt the residual concern in his friend’s voices. “Sorry I worried you guys! I was just in my room this morning, no biggy,” he explained. 

The queen felt so relieved to see all the people she loved most sharing smiles and friendly conversation after such an exhausting week. Lucky for her, the morning’s assembly was the only thing on her docket, giving her a clean slate to spend the day with them, the first real time that the best friends squad could have some fun again since defeating Horde Prime. With nothing particular in mind, she figured lunch was a perfect place to begin. 

“So, lunch? What are we thinking?” Glimmer asked, sounding somewhat devious. She really wanted Salineas seafood, completely ready to teleport a great distance for a bite to eat.

“Honestly? The casserole on the palace menu today sounds great, buuut… not exactly exciting decor,” Adora said, her enthusiasm waning as she continued her sentence.

“We could cook something ourselves?” Bow suggested, suddenly throwing his hands in the air creating an invisible banner as he followed up with “best friends kitchen” somewhat dramatically, eliciting a laugh out of each of them.

“If you want burnt food, then by aaall means,” Catra joked, pointing both thumbs to her head to make fun of herself.

“Don’t let Adora cook either,” Glimmer added a playful jab.

“H-hey! I can… mm, no, you’re right,” Adora retorted, slipping into a giggle and not denying her lack of culinary prowess.

“Hey, Sparkles, when we were in the market the other day, I saw some devilishly good kabobs I wanted to try. How about those?” Catra proposed, actually trying to get back on topic.

“Oh! I saw those!” Glimmer recalled, somewhat sidelining her Salineas dreams in favor of Catra’s suggestion. “I’d be happy with those—maybe get a bunch of different ones and take them for a picnic in the forest?” she continued, building the day ahead of them.

“Yes!” Adora exclaimed, thinking it would be great to get some fresh air and take a walk through the forest. Her and Bow hadn’t had much of a chance to get out of Bright Moon since they got back home and would love to enjoy Etheria’s wild.

“Great! O-oh, I want to get changed first—don’t want to go out in _this_ ,” the queen announced, tugging on her leotard and cape. “Be right back!” she said with excitement as she snapped her fingers and _fwsh!_

Adora couldn’t help but watch Catra’s expression after Glimmer teleported away, seeing such a genuine smile on her face warming Adora’s heart. The way that she shook her head in amusement, it was obvious how much of an effect Glimmer has had on the otherwise stoic and reserved Catra, who had truly opened up her personality to everyone around her at this point. There were fewer things better in the world to watch, but she eventually turned her look to Bow to check in with him. “What were you up to this morning?”

Bow hummed and hawed about what he wanted to share, interested in savoring most of his conversation with Glimmer for himself, but thought it would be selfish not to at least cover the basics. “I was… writing to my parents that I was going to come home, until Glimmer came and talked me out of it,” he admitted in full.

Adora was somewhat taken aback, shocked to hear such a loaded phrase. “Wh--! Huh? Like _home_ home?!” she questioned, even Catra looking somewhat surprised at Bow’s response.

“Yeah! Like home home. Glimmer and I… talked it out, but I basically had some insecurities about staying in Bright Moon,” Bow began to share, exchanging a look of empathy with Adora. “I just needed a wake-up call it seemed. There’s no way I could leave when the _best friends squad_ is all I need!” he proudly exclaimed.

“Good, cause we’d have to visit you and… that would be annoying,” Catra remarked, _trying_ to sound sweet and recognizing that it… didn’t deliver that way. “I’m happy you’re stickin’ around, arrow boy,” she followed up, giving him a quick bump on the shoulder with her fist.

“ _Someone_ is gonna have to make sure you and Glimmer don’t rip each other’s heads off,” Adora joked in reference to both of their tempers.  
  
“H-hey! I’ll tear _your_ head off if you’re not careful!” Catra shouted, defensive as ever and cracking Bow right up, which in turn made Catra and Adora join in from how contagious Bow’s laugh was.

_Fwsh!_

“Alright! Let’s go!” Glimmer shouted upon reentry to the courtyard, widely wrapping her arms around all three of her friends and squeezing them all together in a group hug. She could hear grunts of discomfort and unpreparedness from each of them, but was too excited to pay it much mind before the four of them vanished from atop the palace’s courtyard and down to the village.

_Fwsh!_

Their appearance in the market street surprised some of the locals as the trio of disoriented friends all crashed to the ground off balance, Glimmer standing proud with her hands on her hips for a few moments donning her casual wear. When she opened her eyes, some of the locals were staring at her and her friends, the proud queen suddenly feeling quite embarrassed as she scrambled to help the others up.

“ _Warning_ please, Sparkles… _eugh._ ” Catra spit out with furrowed brows toward her lover as she held her hand out.

“Ah, sorry, darling… I got kind of carried away,” Glimmer laughed it off somewhat as she clutched Catra’s hand and pulled her up to her feet. The feline couldn’t help but smile at her on the way up as she let herself be pulled _much_ closer to Glimmer than she probably anticipated in an attempt to tease her. But instead of getting flustered, Glimmer just gave Catra a cheeky grin and kissed her hard on the lips ever briefly, then pushed her away. 

Catra was _red_ , her tail shooting right up as she rubbed the spit off her lips, grunting flusteredly as Glimmer aided the others. 

Once everyone was back up on their feet, they devised a plan for each of them to get a different piece for their picnic, Glimmer doling out funds to spend wherever they chose to. That way, they’d get a unique array of food to feast on during their picnic and everyone would be happy. Kind of like a potluck, she thought.

Everyone went their separate directions and Glimmer now had to think of something _she_ wanted to contribute from the many options lined up at her disposal. Having a bit of a sweet tooth, she _definitely_ wanted to prepare to have dessert after their lunch. The queen made her way through the marketplace, exchanging her courtesies where necessary until finally reaching the bakery her mother would sometimes take her to. Its owner still recognized her, and welcomed her with gusto, exchanging politenesses and talking fondly about the times she was taken here. Those memories influenced her decision in taking a mini-cake infused with a number of the forest’s wildberries, something that she has _always_ adored the taste of. 

It was in the moments she spent walking out that she took in a wonderful breath of fresh air, reflecting on just how wonderful everything felt in this time of peace. Etheria had flourished and overcome its greatest infection, life was returning to the ruined planets and her kingdom was prospering. Most of all, of course, she could share such marvelous things with her friends, and now, her lover. Who knew it would turn out so perfectly? Glimmer let out the warmest of sighs.

_Mom… I wish you could see where time has taken me._

Of course it was Glimmer that held everyone up as she made her way back to the spot they all decided to meet back at. They were all looking at her walk up, holding various bags or containers of food.

“Hope you didn’t get sweets, Sparkles,” Catra said upon her approach.

“What? Why?” she asked, knowing that she was carrying nothing but cake.

Bow immediately started laughing upon recognizing the bag she was carrying with her. “It’s because that’s what _we_ all bought, too!” 

“Oh, come _on_ guys!” Glimmer shouted, eliciting an eventual giggle as she shared a playful admonishing look to each of them and their choices of food. “I thought at least _you_ were going to get those kabobs,” she said to Catra, the one to suggest this idea in the first place.

“Oh, I got kabobs alright,” Catra teased, opening the container for all to see, revealing kabobs with miniature cinnamon rolls, danishes, and brownies all strung along metal rods, one for each of them.

With Glimmer’s free hand, she slapped her forehead, dragging her fingers across her face. “Uuugh, fine. It’s _officially_ cheat day!” she joked, each of them snickering in response.

“Let’s get out there!” Adora chimed, taking the initiative toward the gates as the crew made their way to the Whispering Woods.

The team shared the usual stupid banter on their way out, Glimmer doing what she needed to get the gate open for them just like when she took Catra out. As they walked through the prairie that laid its footprint outside the village barrier, the First Ones’ ship loomed over them as they followed the path toward the forest. It prompted Bow and Adora to share more about their journey to space that Glimmer and Catra were happy to finally hear. The two of them walked behind their friends as their fingers loosely locked, both elated to enjoy this beautiful day together with such good company.

As they neared the forest’s entryway, Adora and Bow had gotten ahead by a few steps as the two pairs had begun discussions of their own with the topic of space eventually falling out of the group conversation. The two lovers of course couldn’t resist reflecting on the events of last week as they passed the same trees they shared their first kiss under. Holding hands slowly switched to Catra’s arm slinking around Glimmer and clutching her waist with her claw to hold her close as they walked. 

“Hey, Catra…” Glimmer softly said as they trailed behind their friends.

“‘Sup?” the feline threw back in response.

Glimmer chuckled with another happy sigh to follow. “I love you.”

Catra grinned, biting down on a chuckle of her own. “I love you, too, Glimmer,” she said in return, slowing down to give her queen a kiss. They stopped in their tracks as Catra’s free hand swiftly found its way to Glimmer’s cheek, guiding her face to meet with her own as she swooped down and landed a supple kiss on her lips. It was actually the first kiss that _Catra_ initiated, making Glimmer tremble from such a rush, leaving her at a bit of a loss for words as her breathing quickened. 

Catra looked into Glimmer’s eyes with intent as she used the same claw to move some of her hair away from her face to get a better look at her. “And guess what, Sparkles?”

“What?” Glimmer said under her breath.

 _“It’s tomorrow.”_ Catra delivered as sensually as possible, bringing up her promise from last night at perhaps the most inappropriate time.

Glimmer quickly darted her flustered eyes to Bow and Adora who had made it quite far ahead now, but didn’t seem to notice them lagging behind. She turned her frantically blushing face back to Catra and furiously whispered back. “Not _now_ , babe…” she commanded, but slipped in a devious sounding comment of her own to tease her back. _“But rest assured,_ neither _of us will be sleeping tonight,”_ she finished, pulling Catra in for a second, more aggressive kiss that left her breathless and smitten. Catra _loved_ how sporadically dominant she could sound.

Catra felt a certain degree of impatience make its course through her body, completely infatuated by Glimmer and overcome with desire, but she knew she had to quell it until later. “Fine… let’s go catch up with the others,” she said defeatedly, Glimmer simply nodding in agreement as she remembered to give her a warning.

“I’m tele-”

“Yeah, yeah, get on with it!”

_Fwsh!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all she wrote! Or is it? Bonus SMUT chapter on my profile titled "Losing Sleep (On Purpose)" ;) 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this tender, indulgent story of mine. I received so many words of love and encouragement, I just wanted to see it through to the end of the vision I had. I hope every chapter was as exciting, fun, and sweet to read as they were to write.
> 
> THANK YOU for reading!!! Follow me on TUMBLR if you want to ask me any questions or talk about this fic! (glimmerposting.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> Post-completion notes:
> 
> This chapter may feel a bit disjointed from the rest of the fic in its delivery, as this was originally intended to just be a one-shot, but turned into something much more exciting. Enjoy the rest of the story, I hope you find it as endearing as I do!


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